Branded
by HawkofNavarre
Summary: The boy with the scarf and the girl with the keys never meet in Hargeon, but there are some meetings that are simply fated to happen. [Natsu x Lucy; Gray x Juvia]
1. Lucy Heartfilia

**Author's Note:** Guess who's back? Been a while, friends, but I've been sitting on this idea for probably about 7 years. I am honestly super behind in my writing schedule, but Fairy Tail's ended and I couldn't wait to post this. Mashima did us proud. I am thankful that I get to write about his characters.

So...behind schedule means updates aren't gonna be frequent, but those of you who have followed my writing in the past are probably already highly aware of this. Oops. That being said, you know I'll finish this fic eventually. Thanks to everyone who has supported my writing in the past.

 **About the Story:** Most (if any...) people know me by my Possession Series. This fic is not like _**Possession/Limits/You Stole the Rain**_ in any way wherein romance is the main plot. In this fic, Plot is the main plot. Natsu, Lucy, Gray, and Juvia all have huge parts in this story. Before anyone asks, yes, there will be NaLu and Gruvia. However, romance will only be at the forefront if it is important to the plot. Please remember that. **This story can also get kinda dark, so if you have some sort of trigger, please be cautious going forward.**

Feedback is always appreciated! Thank you.

* * *

 _Laughter. Wine. A little black dress._

 _All she knows is that she's having a good time in good company. The man sitting next to her on the couch is already handsome on his own, but he's more attractive telling her about his guild. It doesn't take long for her to like him—to fall for him. She thinks she might be in love with him and never thinks about how strange it is to fall in love with a man in just a couple short hours._

 _But...there's nothing else that can explain it. Her heart is beating so fast and she's filled with an overwhelming desire to just melt into his embrace. She has never felt like this before. All she can think about is him and wanting to be with him. In her mind, she's praying he feels the same for her. These emotions are so intense; she can't be the only one feeling them._

 _Beads of wine float into the air. He beckons her to take them in her mouth. Such a sexy thing to do. For him, of course she'll do it. She would do anything he asked her to do. She wants to show him that he chose the right girl this night, that she'll be the right girl for every night, so she plays it up, mouth opening slowly and tongue seductively rolling the droplet into her mouth. He grins at her and she returns a smirk. He liked it._

 _More beads come and she drinks them willingly. He looks so delighted when she does. Seeing him smile, her heart is full and she is happy. But the room begins to darken and her eyes start to flutter shut. She can't fight it. She doesn't need to fight it because he tells her it's okay. There's a sense of comfort in seeing that curve of his lips as his voice soothes her to sleep. Calmed, it's the last thing she sees._

* * *

 _ **Branded**_ by HawkofNavarre

 **Chapter 1**

 _ **Lucy Heartfilia**_

* * *

Lucy opened her eyes and rolled over onto her side with an absolute feeling of disgust. She rarely had dreams anymore; only dreadful recurring memories. This one, the reason she'd gotten into this mess, always led to a good day of self-loathing.

It was probably some ungodly hour in the morning. The girls she shared a room with were all still sleeping and the room was dark, although it was mostly like that all the time anyway. She remembered waking up in the exact same situation months ago and panicking when she couldn't find her keys. They'd been attached to a strap around her leg and had likely been stripped from her while she'd been unconscious. It'd been through pure luck only that she managed to locate them. Once, while she was serving her kidnapper in his office, she'd spotted them when he opened a drawer on his desk. Lucy had to hold herself back from launching herself straight at it. She had never felt so much rage before. He'd taken her, yes, but the idea that he had _her spirits_ , the ones her mother had entrusted to her, and the ones that she had befriended herself, in his possession made her want to explode.

Her stomach growled as she thought of her spirits. It had been a good 18 hours since she'd last eaten. That was the way things ran around here. They kept the girls starved and fed them only enough to ensure they could function. A woman that felt strong was much more willing to fight back, and while Lucy's will to survive was still strong, her body was definitely lacking in nutrition. She had to be careful with what she did. Non-compliance was met naked humiliation amongst the crew and then minor sedation to mess with your cognition if you were still defiant after that. She had never been through either herself, but she had been forced to pour wine for the ship's master on a day where a fellow victim had been subjected to the former. Fumiko, Lucy thought. But she would never know for certain as the girl barely spoke again after that day. The punishment had broken her as it was intended to do.

Lucy closed her eyes and let herself drift off again. All she'd wanted to do was be a member of Fairy Tail. It was a dream she'd been chasing for a while. She'd wanted to be just like Mirajane, the mage she idolized the most. The woman had such a stunning face, curves in all the right places, and to top it off, she was a brilliant mage—not that the magazines had ever really featured Mirajane's magic, but Fairy Tail was known for having strong wizards. The fact that she was a member was a statement in itself. It was too bad that Lucy would never meet her. An unremarkable mage like herself had stupidly gotten stuck under a love spell and couldn't even keep enough of herself to realize it was happening.

When she next opened her eyes, there was light beaming in from the single round window in their room. Her eyelids were heavy and she let them drop close again, even as she heard the voices of the other girls around her. Waking up meant she had to face another miserable day on this boat. Things would be okay if she could stay curled up in her blankets on the floor, but she was never allowed to do that.

Still they continued to chatter. Ugh, what did they even have to talk about? One girl was drugged up, another was a snide bitch, and the third was much more pleasant than either of them. There was nothing to do, nothing to look at, and everything was completely shitty.

At the squeak of the metal door, Lucy buried her face deeper into the pillow, as if that would prevent the day from continuing on without her.

The door slammed against the wall and a familiar deep voice rang out. "Lucy."

The room was silent and she didn't move at the sound of her voice. _No_ , she thought despondently. _No, no, no, no, no._

A moment passed and she felt the only kind one in the room, Kagura, shake her by the shoulder. "Lucy," she spoke gently, trying to coax her roommate out of feigned slumber, "you've got to get up."

 _Why_ did she have to get up, though? So she could spend another day serving the asshole that trapped her in this place? She didn't want to. This wasn't fair.

" _Lucy,_ " the masculine voice repeated her name, this time more forcefully. Clutching her sheets, she knew it was time to get up.

The blonde sat up, brushing Kagura's hand aside and got to her feet. There was a touch of bleariness that remained in her eyes, but Lucy hardly thought that being called to slave away for some pig warranted being entirely awake. She would dress up in some skimpy outfit and pour him wine while he ogled her and other girls, just like always. Later she would be on cleaning duty, scrubbing floors or something similar, before heading back to this dark room she was starting to believe she would never escape.

Still, the consequences of misbehaving weren't worth it, and if Lucy were being honest, she was terrified of ending up like Fumiko. She hadn't been much of a rule breaker throughout her life until she ran away from home, so she wasn't accustomed to being punished. In fact, the prospect of being punished had always been something that scared her, but her circumstances were much worse this time around. She couldn't risk being defiant. She didn't want to get hurt. She didn't want to feel any worse than she already did. For now, surviving with the least possible difficulty was top priority.

Unfortunately, this ultimately meant obeying when she was called. Quietly, Lucy stood from her dusty white futon and trod after her handler. The other girls didn't bother looking at her. Everyone went through the exact same thing. Today was no different.

The door was shut behind her and she followed the man down the same hallway that she walked every day. White speckled floors lay throughout, her feet brushing against the smooth surface as she was led to the dressing room. The henchman waited outside and Lucy numbly let the attendant inside dress her. Elsie, a nasty woman who wore too much makeup and was puffing on a cigarette 80 percent of the time, dressed the girls on the ship in whatever skimpy outfit might please their master that day. It was evident that unlike the rest of them, Elsie was here by choice. She ate with the crew members and the man in charge barely regarded her unless there was some sort of costume he wanted his girls in that day. All that made her even worse in Lucy's eyes.

Ten minutes later, she was sent out with her hair in a decorated bun wearing a blue and gold bikini with glittering tassels hanging down from the waistband of bottom. It wasn't the least comfortable outfit she'd ever been in, but it left little to the imagination. Worst of all, she could see the brand placed upon her skin on the side of her left thigh. The lock burned into her skin always reminded her that she was trapped. Lucy could feel the walls around her. She didn't need a reminder.

Even less appealing was the way her handler was eying her. Touya had been assigned to fetch and watch her specific room of girls over the last few weeks. He had put his hands on places he shouldn't more than once. Right now his fingers were wandering suspiciously close to her bum and Lucy skillfully moved out of the way. She might not be able to physically retaliate, but she had tons of past experience with guys hitting on her. Besides that, the underlings never wanted to cause a scene; there was a strict policy on how to treat the girls, and there was a no trespass zone unless you were the boss himself.

Touya, however, was quickly taken out of the equation when they arrived at the boss's office. It was a change of scenery from her usual place serving alcohol in the lounge where the boss spent most of his time finding ways to entertain his sorry existence. That meant maybe the guy was doing something actually resembling work for a change.

Indeed, sitting at a dark wooden desk in the middle of the only carpeted room on this entire ship was the boss himself, Bora. The sharp line of his jaw was such a distinct characteristic of his that it haunted her in her dreams. Combined with the sneer that was forever ingrained in her memory as the last thing she saw before succumbing to the drugs, and you had the full image of the dark wizard Bora. He was smart, using Fairy Tail's name like that to draw in a crowd and influence girls with a spell. Lucy hadn't even realized that there was magic being used on her until she woke up the next day, thigh throbbing from the mark that would forever label her a slave.

She hated him, but she served him nonetheless. She had no other choice but to survive.

Bora looked irritated as he sat there, looking like he was in the middle of writing some sort of letter. Sighing, he scratched the X-shaped tattoo over his right eyebrow. "He wants the terms on paper. I can't believe it," the man grumbled as he looked at the two standing at the door. "Touya, get in here and open up a bottle. My pretty little mage Lucy...you know what to do."

She cringed at the nickname he'd given her, but followed after her handler in silence. Although the concept of time was not a luxury Lucy was allowed, it couldn't be later than ten in the morning judging by the light coming through the window. This man really couldn't stop himself from drinking before noon. A wine glass was shoved into her hands and she went to go stand by her captor as he continued to gripe over whatever he was writing. Touya was walked over to the dark, wooden cabinet where the wine could be seen behind the glass. The chain of work had been long established between the girls and the workers. He got the wine, she did the pouring. Once that was done, Touya went to go guard the door outside.

"I don't need this extra work. As if I'm not doing enough already, ordering around these oafs and getting new blood on the ship," Bora continued to mutter to himself. "I'd almost rather just throw them overboard once I'm done with them than deal with all this damn paperwork."

Unmoving, Lucy's eyes strained to see what was on the paper. There was a short list of girls names and it seemed to be some sort of contract he was drawing up. Then it occurred to her that he was talking about _them._ He was trying to get rid of a few of the girls by selling them off to the highest bidder, and if there was nobody buying, he was perfectly content to throw them off the ship to drown at sea! She felt sick. He was the one that had taken them— _all_ of them, and now he didn't even want to take responsibility for them. He wanted to toss them away like garbage.

Suddenly, the lacrima sitting on Bora's desk sprang to life. "B-boss! You need to get over here! There's a situation!" a frantic voice yelled from the other side.

Bora growled in annoyance. "Idiot! I told you not to bother me!"

"But boss! We—" There was a loud yelp. "There's too many of them! We don't know where the hell they all came from!"

"For fuck's sake, you're all useless!" Bora cursed into the crystal. He stood up abruptly, chugging the remainder of the wine in his glass before he stomped out the door, ordering Touya to go inside and watch her. Lucy stared, alone at the desk, still holding the open bottle of wine in her hands.

"Lucky me. In here with a pretty girl with nobody watching," the guard said with a nauseating grin. Lucy winced at the sight of his crooked teeth and long black hair. He wasn't even close to the biggest goon on Bora's payroll. In fact, he was a bit short and scrawny, but he was still a male and one that could probably hurt her.

"You're not allowed to touch me," she replied, her voice shaking as she trembled in her spot. It felt like rocks had made their way into her ankles. They felt impossible to move.

"Oh?" Touya scoffed, advancing on her slowly. "And who's going to stop me?"

Since her legs were refusing to move, Lucy placed the bottle down onto the table. It was still three-quarters full and would only slow her down. Grasping the edge of the table, she moved sideways, dragging her uncooperative feet with her. This stupid piece of furniture was the only thing separating him from getting to her and she was going to use it for as long as she could.

"You're...you're going to get in trouble," Lucy again tried to dissuade him.

He was undeterred. "Ain't no trouble when nobody knows a thing." He reached the other side of the table, creeping around it as Lucy matched his pace with as much courage as she could muster. Her feet still didn't want to do what they were supposed to, but she had to keep the distance between them. "Don't you worry. I'll put you right back the way you were and nobody'll know a damn thing."

Her throat was tight and the fear had thrown her into flight mode. The sweat of her hands stained the surface of the table as she moved past. Her heart was pounding in her ears. Only once in her life had she ever thought "this can't be happening"; Lucy had never thought she would encounter a second, especially so soon after the first. She had to run. She had to get somewhere safe.

Even though she had been expecting it, when Touya chose a side and lunged at her, she hesitated just for a second. Like a child caught in a hypnotic spell, she forgot what she was supposed to do. He was coming towards her in what seemed like slow motion. Why was she just standing here...? What was she doing...?

Lucy exploded from her spot as instinct took over, but it was already too late. She screamed as she felt the tassels of her bottom jerked back and she fell to the floor. His hands were grabbing at her and Lucy flailed her legs at his face. She felt her heel hit the table as his grip tightened around her ankle.

"Let go of me!" she shrieked, desperately clawing at the ground. She felt the first tear falling down her cheek as she took hold of the side edge of the table, knuckles turning white. "Let go! _Someone help me!_ "

Then Lucy heard laughter. He was _laughing_ at her. Because even with the adrenaline coursing through her veins, she was still weak. Because even though she was a mage who could fight, she had frozen up in fear. Because she was calling for help when they both knew there would be none. Even if people weren't wrapped up in whatever issue was happening on the other side of the ship, Lucy was still surrounded by the demons who had turned her into a slave. If she ran and got away, it would change nothing. There was _nobody_ here to help her. Nobody. The only person she had was herself.

Give up...or fight.

It wasn't a decision. Lucy was not going to let him lay a finger on her ever again. She would not succumb to some repulsive scumbag who thought he could have his way with her just because he wanted to. She would show him how dead wrong he was.

Looking ahead of her, the wine bottle lay nearby like a saving grace, the carpet stained red from the spillage—it must have rolled off the table and onto the floor from the impact of her foot. Without a second thought, Lucy roared and lunged forward to grab the bottle's neck. In one fluid motion, she whirled and smashed it against her assailant's head with all her momentum. Glass shattered everywhere and the laughter stopped. The hold on her ankle had loosened and Lucy scurried back on her heels and haunches until her back hit the wall. Seeing his body motionless across the floor, everything started to sink in.

He'd tried to—he'd almost... If she hadn't gotten to that bottle, he would've—

Lucy curled up into herself, crying hysterically into her hands. All of this was too much. Why was this happening to her? It wasn't fair. Maybe all of this was her punishment for running away from home. Maybe someone somewhere thought she deserved this, but she didn't. She didn't deserve the daily objectification, the sexual harassment, the imprisonment. She didn't deserve _any of this_. Most of all, she didn't deserve the brand laying upon her skin that would curse her for the rest of her life. Lucy wailed as she remembered how absolutely violated she'd been and how close she'd gotten to being violated all over again in an entirely different way. _It wasn't fair._

She fell over onto her side, quieter sobs wracking her body. Salty tears melded into the carpet as she stared at her handiwork over by the desk. A combination of desperation and will had somehow freed her from that mess. It was the first time she had truly fought someone despite strutting around and calling herself a mage after leaving home. Glass littered his body and a small pool of blood had formed around his head where Lucy had struck him. It was almost surreal that she was the one who had done that. If it had been one of the other girls, would they have been able to do the same thing?

...Of course it wasn't fair. Of course she didn't deserve any of this, but none of that mattered. She was here and she had to face the situation she was in. There was no choice. Lucy wanted to survive. As a mage with at least some self-defence training, she had to make that happen. There was nobody here to help, she reminded herself.

Pushing herself to her feet, Lucy wiped her face on the back of her wrist. She had little hope, but she had to try anyway.

Despite her scattered thoughts, she remembered exactly where she was. Bora's office. It was a place she never thought she'd have to herself. Her legs were like jelly as she walked back over to the desk, avoiding the body on the floor by staying as far away from it as she could. Lucy pulled open the top drawer of the desk to find an absolute mess. There were abandoned sticky notes, old bottle caps, and even condoms strewn about the drawer. She frowned in disgust. She'd had enough of thinking about men and their genitals.

The second and third drawer she'd looked through turned out to be a bust, but in the fourth, she spotted the gold of Aquarius' key shining from below a couple sheets of crumpled paper. Her heart practically burst through her chest when she felt the metal of her keys in her hands again. The tears returned. She couldn't believe how long it had taken her to be reunited with her beloved spirits. Hope welled up inside of her. She could use Aquarius to bring the ship to shore from wherever they were. Freedom was just one gate opening away.

Lucy held the key forward, concentrating her magic. "Open the Gate of the Water Bearer, Aquarius!"

...Nothing happened.

"No," she breathed, determined to try again. "Open the Gate of the Water Bearer, Aquarius!"

Still, there was no response.

"No. No, no, no, no, no." The celestial spirit mage touched on her magic again. "Open! _Open!_ "

She sank to the ground, knowing it was useless. Her hunger and lack of sleep had drained her of magic and the only reason she'd been able to fend off Touya was because of adrenaline. All of her gold keys required more magic than she could possibly have when she had been practically starving for months and none of her silver keys would be useful for getting her off this ship. She might be able to float through the seas in Horologium, but his contract wouldn't allow her to keep him here for days, which wouldn't matter when she didn't even have enough magic to keep his gate open. Lucy wanted to be that strong girl in the book that saved herself, but she couldn't. There just wasn't a way.

There was only one thing she was sure of: she could never let Bora get his filthy hands on her keys ever again. If she couldn't save herself, she could at least save her spirits.

Lucy got down to work, knowing she had to buy herself as much time as she could. She grabbed the chair at the desk and dragged it over to the door, shoving it under the knob to jam it. Eying the glass on the floor, an idea came to her. She hurried over to the cabinet at the back to get another wine bottle and uncorked it with as much effort as she could muster. Sliding open the room's window, Lucy took a moment to breathe in the outside, something she hadn't smelled in what felt like a lifetime. She hated the saltiness of sea water, but in this moment, the taste in the air was the most magnificent thing she'd ever experienced. The wind on her face was a reminder of exactly what she was fighting for.

Not one for wasting time, Lucy poured the wine out the window until the bottle was empty. She took a piece of parchment from inside one of the drawers she had searched earlier and began penning an S.O.S letter. She'd only written about three sentences when she heard pounding on the door. _Faster, Lucy,_ she told herself. _You have to work faster._

She ignored the sound of people trying to break in and continued writing as coherently as she could under pressure. Quickly, she rolled up the parchment and stuffed it into the bottle. Her keys came next. Lucy took a second to hold her keys close to her chest. She had no idea where they would end up, but anywhere was better than here.

"I'm sorry I ever let him take all of you," she whispered to her spirits, "and I'm sorry that I have to do this. I hope whoever finds you all will cherish each of you as much as I do."

Aquarius, Cancer, Taurus, Crux, Horologium, Lyra, and...Nikora. She couldn't bring herself to let go of all of them; it was like letting go of a part of who she was. Pulling Nikora's key off the ring, she slid the rest of her keys into the bottle. All of them were her friends. She could only hope they would forgive her.

It took all of her strength to put a cork back in the bottle, but she did it. It felt like a piece of heart had been torn from her as she threw the bottle out the window and into the ocean. Considering all that had happened in the last half hour, it didn't take much for the tears to start flowing again. This was probably the last time she would see those keys ever again, but she knew it was for the best. Bora would never lay his hands on them again.

With one last look at the bottle, she closed the window and fell to the ground sobbing. Her _keys._ The only part of her mother she had left and she'd _thrown them into the ocean._ She was a terrible celestial spirit mage and a terrible daughter. She was the biggest idiot for getting herself into this situation in the first place. Nikora, the only spirit she knew she'd have enough magic to summon, was clutched tightly in her hand.

Lucy pressed the key into her bun, making it look like one of the hair ornaments Elsie had decorated her with. Somehow, they would make it out of this. She would survive.

Staring at the door, she waited for them to come.

* * *

In the harbour of Hargeon, a young man and his companion sat with fishing rods in hand. The male with pink hair was sulking even as he cast his line in the water.

"What a bust," the man complained loudly. "I knew we shouldn't have believed Krov! Last time he sent us to Malba City and nothing was there! I'm gonna punch him so hard the next time I see him!"

"Aye, but we don't know where else to look for Igneel," his companion, a talking blue cat, replied cheerfully. He was operating a rod of his own. "At least there are lots of fish here!"

The bucket next to them was indeed filling up quite quickly. If anything, they certainly wouldn't go hungry tonight. Still, he would much rather have found what he was looking for than just scaly things he could eat. The disappointment was palpable.

Just then, he spotted something glint in the water. It looked much too well-kept just to be garbage of some sort. Curiosity piqued, he hopped into the water without hesitation to fish it out himself. A minute later, he was back on the dock next to his cat friend, examining the object. It was a bottle, still sealed, but the cork was a little crooked and there wasn't any liquid inside. Shaking off his wet hands, the young man uncorked the bottle and let a damp piece of parchment slide into his hands.

"What is it?" the cat asked, coming to stand beside him.

"It's a letter," the pink-haired man replied as he examined the unraveled piece of paper, "from a girl named Lucy."


	2. Natsu Dragneel

**Author's Note:** Oh man, not gonna lie; this chapter was a slog to get through. It sets up the plot for the rest of the story, but I hope it isn't too boring. I know it was a long wait for this. That being said, yeah I'm slow. Sorry.

Thanks so much for the feedback! I really appreciate that people spend time reading my words and writing stuff to me. It still boggles me sometimes. Well, without further ado...

* * *

 _My name is Lucy Heartfilia. I am 17 years old. It's the sixth month of the year X784. I don't know when someone will find this, but if years haven't passed, I'm asking for your help._

 _A couple months ago, I was kidnapped in Hargeon by a man posing as Fairy Tail's Salamander. His name is Bora and he uses magic to seduce women and lure them onto his ship. We sail all day and stop every 2 weeks for supplies. I don't know on which day. I'm not sure how many of us there are. Maybe 15, maybe more. He has many more men._

 _If it's already too late, then please just care for my keys. They belong to someone who loves them as much as I do. If it's not, we can't save ourselves. Please help us. If you can find a way, please help us._

 _Please._

* * *

 _ **Branded**_ by HawkofNavarre

 **Chapter 2**

 _ **Natsu Dragneel**_

* * *

It was a beautiful day in Magnolia. The sun was shining down on the city as pedestrians buzzed about with smiles on their faces. The gondoliers in the canal tipped their hats at a young lady they had just transferred across town. She spared them a few extra jewels and walked off, blending into the crowds as she headed towards the shopping center. A young man brushed against her shoulder, muttering an apology as he emerged from the masses of people. Finally feeling as though he had a little more freedom, he took off in a sprint. His much shorter and furrier companion flew behind him in close pursuit, wings and tail on full display.

Maybe ten or fifteen minutes later, he rushed towards a large two-story building tucked away near Magnolia's coast. Laughter and loud voices could be heard from within, but the noises went in one ear and out the other for him. Although he hadn't taken a mission off the board, he had one clutched in his hand as he pushed opened the building's doors. Nobody batted an eye when he entered, his guildmates continuing about their business, completely unaware that he was here. Normally this wouldn't bother him, but needed their attention and so he gathered a deep breath to project his voice.

" _Yukino!_ "

Natsu Dragneel of Magnolia's sole guild, Fairy Tail, felt much more satisfied when the glances of several of his guild mates landed on him. He tossed his rucksack on the ground and glared at nobody in particular. "Well? Where is she?"

"She's still in lessons with Mira, you moron," an irritated voice came from his left side. The dragon slayer turned to see Gray Fullbuster standing nearby with his hands jammed into his pant pockets. The man didn't have a shirt on, leaving the guild mark on his right pec exposed. Normally, the condescending expression his face would have Natsu planting a fist in it, but he didn't have time for that right now.

"Hey Natsu!" a buck-toothed man shouted from his right. He was sitting at one of the tables with Niggy, looking smug. "Did you find anything good while you were gone?"

Frowning, Natsu, slipped the piece of paper he was holding into his shirt and began stomping over. "Aye! We found lots of fish!" he heard Happy reply. Krov and Niggy were having a good laugh in the meantime. That promptly ended when a fuming Natsu grabbed Krov and chucked him across the room into another table which splintered into broken boards.

"YOU LIAR! THERE WAS NOTHING ABOUT IGNEEL IN HARGEON!"

Just then, Gray grasped one of his shoulders. He was pretty much naked now, barring his underwear. "Bastard! I was talking to you!"

Natsu looked at him daringly, eyes blazing. "Talk to me when you're wearing pants, ice freak."

" _What'd you call me, dumbass?_ "

"An _ice freak_ , you _frozen jerkoff_."

Gray threw the first punch which Natsu dodged with ease before he went prancing off around the room. He _guessed_ he could spare a moment to put this all to rest. He was feeling pretty smug looking at the other man's face until he felt his feet slip from beneath him, his chin hitting the floor that was now slick with ice quite painfully. Natsu shifted onto a knee with his hands on the floor and melted the ice on the ground. He wasn't the one with the smug look on his face anymore.

Natsu rose to his feet as fire surrounded his hands. His opponent stood metres away, the side of his fist pressed against an open palm.

"Come get me," the dragon slayer taunted.

He was anticipating some sort of attack, but was taken off guard when a sword planted itself on the ground between them. He stared at the weapon for a second and exchanged looks with Gray who shrugged. A minor disruption. Back to fighting. They ran at each other without a second thought.

"I thought you two would be more mature by now."

Natsu was abruptly ripped out of his sprint and yelped as his scarf choked him a little bit. Gray was being held by an earlobe about an arm's length away. Fired up, he was about to fight back against the person holding him when he realized exactly who it was.

Erza Scarlet, or better known by the public as the Titania, was holding them both apart and not looking very happy to be doing it. She was in her favourite Heart Kreuz armour, glowering at both of them.

"Ridiculous. You can't even behave yourselves for two minutes when you're in the same room!" she scolded them like an older sister. "Now apologize to each other and quit fighting."

They glared at each other, but both of them knew better than to disobey the orders of their senior. "Sorry," they said simultaneously, equally as insincere.

Erza eyed them cautiously, probably aware of their ingenuity, but didn't seem to care so long as they weren't disrupting everyone else. Satisfied, she nodded and relaxed her grip. As soon as she turned around, Natsu sent a spark at Gray's hair, singeing a few of the tips. Gray was quick to retaliate by flicking a piece of ice at Natsu's forehead. They swiped at each other childishly when a massive chasm suddenly split open the floor between them.

Eyes wide, the boys found the Titania looming over them. " _What did I just say?_ "

Unfortunately, this scuffle had started a chain reaction amongst the other guild members. The vibration of Erza's attack had knocked the sand mage Max into Elfman's back. Of course, Elfman did not take well to being hit from behind for reasons of the manly variety. "An assault from behind is a cowardly tactic!" he announced belligerently, then punched Max into Cana. The impact resulted in Cana spilling her bottle of wine and igniting the embodiment of the term "raging alcoholic." Cana flew at Elfman with frightening fervor. Their tussle landed right in the middle of a game of poker game between Jet, Droy, and four other guys. The whole foyer began to unravel into chaos and Erza was suddenly ignoring Natsu and Gray in an effort to break up some of the fights that had just broken out.

Obviously the rivals of fire and ice took this opportunity to get at each other yet again. Natsu ducked under the ice hammer Gray swung at him, blowing fire. The ice mage threw up a wall that dissolved in a sizzle of steam. A second later, frozen arrows were flying at him. Natsu sidestepped one, feeling the breeze of the arrow as it whizzed by his face. It was the same game they played since they were kids, neither of them ever winning. Fighting made them come alive; it was their sign of brotherhood. It was like breathing. It was just what their guild did. Nobody really seemed to care about anything anymore besides fists and magic and using fists and magic to beat each other up. It was how their guild showed love. Well, probably anyway.

Natsu was in the middle of readying another technique when he found himself crushed under a massive force. He was forced onto his stomach before he even knew what was happening, everything but his head completely immobilized.

" _Silence! All of you!_ "

The booming voice echoing throughout the guild stopped everyone in their tracks. Erza looked rather ashamed of what she had been taking part in while the rest of them looked mildly terrified. On the other hand, Natsu just felt irked that he couldn't move at the moment. Being squashed beneath his master's gargantuan foot wasn't exactly something he found enjoyable.

" _Children will be treated like children! Now, clean this place up this instant!_ " Makarov demanded, his voice shaking the floor. He glared at everyone for a few seconds before shrinking down to his normal, unintimidating size and grinning at his underlings. "If I let you all destroy this place with magic, it would take weeks to rebuild!"

They all responded by getting down to work, evidently forgetting what all the ruckus was about in the first place. Erza bowed her head to their master apologetically.

"It was irresponsible of me to get caught up in such juvenile antics," she said as she glanced at the floor in embarrassment.

"There's nothing wrong with a fight every now and then. It was just getting a little out of hand," he replied dismissively. "Besides, I'm sure _this one_ —" Makarov stepped a little harder on the still-facedown Natsu who frowned in annoyance. "—was right in the middle of it again, isn't that right?"

Now that he was no longer trying to punch his rival, the dragon slayer remembered what he'd been trying to do in the first place when he walked into the guild hall. "I got important stuff that needs to be taken care of, old man." He rolled out from under his Makarov's foot and stood up. "You should read it. This...this isn't something I'm gonna be able to handle alone," Natsu stated somberly as he pulled out the message to hand to his master.

The piece of parchment was probably more worn out now since their widespread brawl, but it would still be legible. Even if it wasn't, he practically had it memorized by now. He couldn't forget the girl out there that needed his help. The frantic penmanship that it was scrawled in reminded him of how serious this whole thing was. Not to mention the fact that someone was out there sullying the good name of his guild. Whoever this despicable man was had to be punished.

Makarov raised his head when he was done reading, his face entirely sober. "It's the sixth month of X784 right now. Where did you find this?"

Erza had a puzzled expression on her face, not knowing what was written in the letter. Clearly she wanted to know what was going on, but Natsu disregarded her as Happy strolled up alongside him carrying the rucksack he'd disposed of earlier.

"The harbour at Hargeon. And look," he replied, pausing to rummage through his bag before pulling out the item he was looking for, "this is what it came in."

The elderly mage stared at the bottle that was now in Natsu's hand, eyes caught on the keys that sat at the bottom. Sighing, he folded up the letter neatly and turned to Erza. "Get Levy and Gray. We must go to the library."

Still rather confused about what was happening, the ex-quipper nodded and went to fetch the requested fellow members. Makarov didn't say anything and simply headed for the library with Natsu and Happy following close behind.

When it came to difficult situations, children were often presumed to be the ones most perplexed by them for the plain fact that they didn't understand what was going on. Yukino, however, was no such child. She had always been intelligent, but ever since she'd been taken in by their guild, her study sessions with Mirajane had only made her more intuitive. To Natsu, that was pretty indicative as to why the young girl immediately took the bottle from his hands maybe three seconds after he walked into the library.

"You have celestial keys," she said pointedly, blinking. "Why does Natsu-sama have celestial keys?"

Mira smiled at them from the table in the middle of the room, obviously unsure of when Yukino had escaped from her seat. The girl was generally so quiet and well-behaved that Natsu could see why Mira had been thrown for a loop.

Makarov patted her gently on the head despite being smaller than her. "Go back to your seat, Yukino. All will be explained as soon as the other arrive."

* * *

"Are we sure this is real?"

It was the question Gray (now fully clothed) posed as soon as the letter was finished being read to the entire room as they sat around the table in the library. Of everyone, he was the most unmoved by its contents. Natsu's immediate reaction was to use his fists to convince his stripper ass, but he restrained himself knowing that probably wasn't going to go over well with certain other people nearby. Frankly, he didn't care what Gray thought and was more curious about why this guy was even here.

"It seems pretty serious if master thinks it is," Levy responded from across from him, her blue hair held back by a white hair band.

"Yeah, but Natsu's a moron," the ice mage retorted. "Maybe someone's playing a prank on him and he's too stupid to notice."

"No, this is very real."

They all turned to look at Yukino who had risen from her seat again. She didn't bother walking around the table to get what she was looking for and simply got on top of it to reach for the bottle that was sitting near Natsu. Carefully, she slid back into her seat, never taking her eyes off the keys that sat within the glass. She turned it over, shaking it a bit until the keys fell with a clang onto the wood.

"These are celestial spirit keys, just like mine," she explained to Gray as she set down the bottle to examine the keys instead. "Gray-sama, don't you understand? We would never part from our spirits unless we had to. They aren't just our closest allies; they are our friends."

He crossed his arms and looked away without an answer.

"Yes, Yukino, and that is exactly why I've called you all here," Makarov said. His glance over all of them around the table was stern but powerful. "Do you understand how easily this message could have been lost at sea for months, or even decades? The chances that Natsu would have found this message when he did are miniscule, and yet he did. This is a cry for help from those who cannot help themselves. As the few who can use magic in this world, are we so selfish that we can't help those who are in need? Hargeon is our neighbour and they don't have any guilds of their own. I will not sit idly by while innocent civilians are out there suffering at the hands of another mage."

"You know that's not what I meant..." Gray mumbled grumpily.

"Nevertheless, I wanted to make a speech that sounded cool!" their master announced cheerfully, lightening the mood. "Besides that, we can't overlook the fact that someone is using Natsu's name to tarnish the name of our guild. As far as I'm concerned, we're already involved."

The dragon slayer had been feeling good after watching Gray be admonished by their master but mentally paused at that statement. "Wait, _my_ name? You mean...?"

Gray stared at him as if he were stupid and Erza just sighed.

"Oh yes. All the magazines refer to you as Fairy Tail's Salamander." It was Mira who answered in her sympathetic tone.

"Aye! I knew that too!" Happy chirped.

Natsu looked at his best friend in betrayal for a second before shaking it off. "Whatever. So we're gonna find her, right? Levy can track her?" He couldn't wait to get his hands on this bastard who was stealing girls and making them his slaves. Lucy...whoever she was... She had been through enough.

The first time he'd read the letter, he had wondered himself if it was a hoax. Finding a letter in bottle within the same month it'd been sent out just seemed too convenient—not to mention how unlikely it was to even have someone write this message and put it in a bottle in the first place. But then her saw the scratch of her words, the way the leftover wine stained the parchment, and thought of the messy way the cork had been shoved back into the bottle. All of that screamed for help as much as she did.

How must she be feeling right now? Alone in an unfamiliar place with hostile criminals who had taken her away for their own devices. How forsaken did she feel, being unable to help herself and knowing there probably wasn't any help coming?

"It's not that easy," Levy said apologetically. "Even if I could get a magic signature off her keys, we have no idea where to start looking. There's no way I could search the entire ocean and there's no way of knowing when they dock or where."

"Calm down, Natsu. I know you're eager to help this girl, but we need to have a plan first." Makarov looked to Gray. "I understand your skepticism, but the reason I asked you here is because you had contact with the dark mage Bora before."

"You think it's _that_ Bora?" the ice mage asked like he was having an epiphany. "I...yeah, I thwarted one of his jewel thefts a few months back. He'd enchanted the staff with a love spell, but he was out of there by the time I arrived. His lackeys took the fall for it. We never saw each other."

Erza shook her head. "So we're at a dead end then."

"No, we're not," Yukino said firmly. Her hands were cupped together around the keys as she held them out to the group. "The spirits, they might know something. Some of these keys are incredibly rare. They must be invaluable to Lucy-sama."

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's do it!" Natsu insisted as he stood up, pumping his fist in the air.

Without waiting for her master's approval, Yukino clutched the keys in her hands and headed straight for the door. Natsu jumped up and followed enthusiastically. One step closer... They were about to get one step closer to saving Lucy.

* * *

Natsu ran after Yukino who had headed over to the nearby river. He vaguely heard footsteps behind him, indicating that the others had come along, but he was too occupied with seeing what the spirits might uncover to bother looking back. Though her expression remained neutral, his younger guildmate was definitely excited about calling a spirit she had never called before as she held out a shiny golden key towards the rushing water.

"Please let me do the talking, Natsu-sama," she instructed him as she closed her eyes. "O great goddess of water, answer my call, I beseech you! Open the Gate of the Water Bearer, Aquarius!"

He had seen her open the gate of the spirits quite a few times, but it never got old with the way some of them loved to embellish their entrance. This spirit clearly had a flair for the dramatic as she burst out of the water, her long hair flipping over her shoulder with both her hands around a pot overhead. She glanced at them with piercing blue eyes as the jewel on her headpiece gleamed in the sun. Slowly, she lower the pot to her side, gathering water into it.

"Who are you and why do you have my key?" she asked defensively, as if she were ready to attack at a moment's notice.

He was tempted to demand answers of his own, but let Yukino do as she'd requested. The younger girl stepped forward confidently.

"I am the celestial spirit mage Yukino. I am the one who summoned you."

Aquarius glanced around warily. "And where is Lucy?"

And that was the question, wasn't it? Natsu bit his tongue in an effort to keep his mouth shut. Just standing here watching was driving him crazy. He was always going to be restless if he couldn't do anything to help.

"That's what we're trying to figure out," Yukino replied, unafraid.

"That brat...she abandoned all of us, didn't she?" Aquarius asked bitterly.

He couldn't take it anymore. He wouldn't just stand here and listen while Lucy's own spirits were insulting her. He didn't know a ton about celestial spirits, but he knew that the bonds between them were as precious as family. Yukino had said that herself. "She was _taken,_ and she still tried to save all of you," he growled. "She's your friend, isn't she? So why are you so quick to blame her?"

"Taken?" Aquarius blinked, looking subdued. "You mean...these past few months we spent stuffed in a drawer somewhere was because..."

"I found a bottle with a letter inside. You were all in it too," Natsu supplied stubbornly, still not quite placated.

From what he had seen of the water spirit so far, she suddenly became uncharacteristically quiet. He silently hoped that she was feeling a little guilty about being so cavalier about the whereabouts of her key bearer. However, her face grew determined and compliant only a few seconds later.

"Then that stupid girl is in danger," the spirit stated, expression worried despite her rough words. "I can't tell you where she is because I don't know myself, but if you're going to help her, I'll tell you what I can."

She emptied the water from the pot distractedly. "It was probably about a week and a half ago in your terms...I felt her trying to open my gate."

"You mean she didn't?" Natsu asked, eyes narrowing.

"No, I mean I think she _couldn't_ ," Aquarius replied thoughtfully. "She didn't have enough magic, but she tried twice. I felt it."

His jaw clenched, knowing that was probably when Lucy had written that letter. Still, it didn't give him anything else to go on. If even Levy couldn't track where she was, they really had no way of finding this girl.

"There's one other thing I noticed," she added, drawing Natsu's attention back. She gestured towards the ring of keys that Yukino was holding. "That ring is missing a key. Just before the dead period when we weren't being called at all, Lucy bought another key."

"So...she kept one?" He was scratching his head, trying to understand how this was supposed to help him.

Yukino stepped forward, placing a comforting hand on his arm. "Do you know which one?"

"Canis minor, if I felt it correctly. They haven't made a contract yet, but I'm sure that key was with the rest of us," Aquarius noted before her face soured. "Not sure why she would keep that useless little thing and throw the rest of us into the ocean."

"I...understand," the young celestial spirit mage stated a little breathlessly. "I...I understand!"

Natsu glanced her quizzically, mostly because none of this information meant anything to him. Yukino seemed to know this right away and brandished a silver key off her own small ring of keys.

"This is Nikora, the Canis Minor. I have the same key. He's doesn't require a lot of magic to call and he's not very strong, but he'll always do his best," she explained to both Natsu and the spirit in front of her. "If she didn't have enough magic to summon you, maybe she has enough for Nikora."

Aquarius appeared satiated by this rationalization. Meanwhile, Natsu was still confused.

"We may not know where she is, but my Nikora spirit can find hers in the Spirit Realm!" Yukino rambled happily. "Once she calls her own spirit, we'll have a way to contact her!"

Oh, well, that _was_ something.

"That's all I can tell you," Aquarius said. The spirit closed her eyes and let out a long breath before sending Natsu a piercing stare. "You. Make sure you find Lucy."

He met her eyes with determination welling up within him. "I will."

Aquarius nodded in approval before she dove into the water, dismissing herself.

What she'd given them was a lot to think about; however, before he had any time to process this, a shout cut into his thoughts. He turned around to see everyone who had been in the library standing by. He hadn't realized they'd been observing the entire interaction until now as Levy alerted them to her presence. She was partially bent over with her hands on her knees, breathing heavily. It seemed like she was the only one who had arrived just now.

"Master!" she called between breaths, bringing all eyes on her. "I found something!"

Makarov stood with his hands behind his back patiently, waiting for her to regain some oxygen. "Whenever you're ready."

She placed her hands on her hips to hold herself upright. "I did some research on Bora like you asked and I managed to contact someone from Titan Nose, the guild he was excommunicated from. It turns out Bora has a girlfriend."

"A girlfriend?" Gray piped up. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"Well, his girlfriend goes to the same café every morning. We have a connection," Levy replied pointedly.

Natsu's mind was working quickly. Suddenly they had both a way to contact Lucy and a way to get to her captor. They were a step closer to getting her off that ship. He clenched a fist. He was getting all fired up.

"What are we waiting for then? Let's go!" he insisted with a determined grin. He was already running off towards the guild when Erza grabbed his scarf and jerked him back for the second time that day.

"Not so fast," she said in exasperation. "You can't just barge into there. We need a plan."

He glared at her, feeling distinctly like the "plan" was quite obvious.

"Precisely. We can't spook the girl," Makarov stated, peering over at Natsu with a disapproving look. "Levy, what do we know about her?"

The solid script mage had taken out a notepad to refer to. "She's a mage of Phantom Lord. They call her the Rain Woman. And according to my contact, she's pretty quiet and shy."

"It would be best to send someone in incognito. Give her a friend, perhaps?" Mirajane suggested.

"Or a business partner for her boyfriend," Erza added. "We need to give her a reason to contact him."

Natsu struggled within his senior's grip. "Why are we even talking about this? I'll go!" he whined defiantly. He was getting really annoyed with all this talk and lack of action.

"Not a chance," she retorted sternly, her hold on him remaining solid. "Stay put. You have the subtlety of a house on fire."

Entirely annoyed, the dragon slayer watched as his master turn to the half-naked guy standing nearby. His temper flared within him, knowing exactly where this was going. He didn't care what they said. _As_ _if_ he was just going to sit around and do nothing. Lucy needed his help and he was going to do everything he could to find her. He couldn't just leave her with that feeling of despair and emptiness, like a hole in your heart that would never again be filled.

He knew, because once upon a time, Natsu had been alone too; he would make sure she knew she wasn't.

"Gray," Makarov started, "are you up for a mission?"

Gray's eyes landed on Natsu, locking them into a long stare. Sighing, the ice mage lazily glanced back at their master. "Guess I don't have much of a choice."


	3. Juvia Lockser

**Author's Note:** Welp, here I am throwing you a bone 'cause I feel pretty bad about leaving you all hanging for the last how many months... I did manage to redo most of the outline for this fic, which was what I wanted, but I'm way behind on the actual writing still. Worry not! Progress is being steadily made. I'll try to speed up enough that I can get at least a chapter out each month, but nothing is guaranteed.

Thanks for all your support! All your feedback is greatly appreciated.

* * *

 _"But why are you leaving?" she asked as she clutched the parasol in her hands tightly._

 _The rain fell heavily around them, her heart falling to pieces with it. He was the only one who had ever stayed with her despite the rain. After all, he never let her forget it. The reminder of how much he hated the rain was constant. He whined and complained, but he stayed. That was the important part._

 _Her lover shrugged underneath his own umbrella. "I made a business. I gotta make it run somehow."_

 _She looked down at her boots. The sadness was overwhelming and the sky began to cry harder. She barely saw him these days; how long would they be apart if he was leaving on a ship? Logically, however, she understood. He had left his guild only a couple of months ago and needed some sort of income. His import and export business would need frequent supervision and she knew that him staying with the shipments was important, especially when he only had one boat._

 _She tried her hardest not to make the next question sound so selfish. "When will Juvia see you again?"_

 _"I'll call you," he replied, his tone nonchalant. They both knew it wasn't really an answer. The man grimaced at the puddles that were forming around them. "We should meet inside from now on. Your rain doesn't go indoors, does it?"_

 _She shook her head and watched him walk off a few minutes later without so much as a kiss. Again, she was alone in the rain. Perhaps it was just a cycle that would never be broken._

* * *

 _ **Branded**_ by HawkofNavarre

 **Chapter 3**

 _ **Juvia Lockser**_

* * *

Juvia Lockser's day was like clockwork: she would wake up, wait by her home's lacrima for an hour, go to her favourite café for a couple hours, do a short mission to keep her income flowing, check in at the guild headquarters to find a mission for the following day, then go home again to wait by her lacrima. There was nothing fulfilling about it, really, but it was her version of living. Every day, all she yearned for was a call from her beloved which were few and far between. Since his departure, Bora had called her a grand total of one time and that had been two months ago. Still, he had carved his signature deep in her heart because he had stayed with her, and that was something she couldn't let go of so easily.

She sat at the café drinking her tea out on the terrace, drenching the rest of the tables in water despite the sunny day. Fortunately, the café's owner didn't seem to mind the water and always left her to her own devices. She was especially thankful for that considering the mission she'd had yesterday. It had been a little stressful for her, mostly because it was had been a teenage boy requesting a letter delivery that had turned out to be a breakup note to his girlfriend. Juvia had almost refused to do it, but shoved aside her own broken heart for the girl and did what her contract had stated. Naturally, when the girl read the note and started crying, the rain intensified.

Now here she was, gloomily sitting outside in her own rain as she reflected upon her own relationship. Not for the first time, she wondered if Bora loved her. Officially, they had been together for a year, which sounded good but certainly changed when it came to the reality of things.

They only ever met on Bora's terms, which she had conceded to after she had once suggested they go out for dinner and received an "All you ever do is nag me, woman!" in response. They only ever kissed when he felt like it too, which was limited to somewhere between sometimes and never. She always paid for their dates and he seemed to like her most when she was cooking for him. None of that really sounded like what a man in love would be like, but she didn't know. All her previous boyfriends had left her when all this rain became too much, and he…he hadn't.

And so she loved him.

Was thinking about love supposed to make you feel happy? She was pretty sure it was, but it was never the feeling she got—maybe because she was always trying so desperately to hang on to it. The fight for love was never an easy one, but she wasn't about to just give up. It was just...was it this hard for everyone?

A droplet of water leaked through a hole in the umbrella that covered her table and landed in her cup. The liquid rippled within. She sighed. This was her favourite seat, but she would likely have to switch to one that wouldn't drench her beverage. How sad that the option to just _stop the rain_ simply wasn't available to her. She controlled the water, but to a certain degree, it controlled her too.

Juvia peeked up at the next table to her right. That one had yet another leaky umbrella and would ruin her tea more than this one. The other table to her left...well, there was a man sitting there already. That struck her as quite odd, considering nobody ever sat outside while she was around for the simple fact that nobody wanted to sit in the rain.

He was very handsome; the angle of his jaw was a particularly attractive feature of his face. He had dark eyes like her own and seemed to be fiddling with the collar of his shirt, like it wasn't comfortable to be wearing. The book in his hands that he seemed to be concentrating on so intently was becoming wavy along its edges from the moisture in the air. The words on the front of the book read "The Key to Unlocking Yourself." What a strange book to be reading out in the rain all by his lonesome...

Suddenly his eyes shifted from the contents of his literature and landed on her. Flustered, Juvia quickly looked away to focus on her tea. She people-watched all the time, but she was always careful not to get caught staring. It was one of her hobbies, but she didn't want to be perceived as creepy or nosy. She was just...curious, about people and the way they acted.

But how could she regret being caught in the act when she wouldn't have seen what she had otherwise? What eyes this man possessed, so much depth and intensity. Juvia wondered what hardships he'd gone through in his life to make his eyes look like that.

She was, however, a little embarrassed to continue sitting there when he'd seen what she was doing. Juvia didn't even know if he was still looking at her. It would probably be best if she went to the guild to prepare for her mission a little bit early today. Besides, with this umbrella dripping rainwater into her tea, she wasn't sure how much she wanted to drink it anymore. Juvia made up her mind quickly and stood up with her own parasol and headed over to the Phantom Lord headquarters, taking the rain with her.

* * *

Juvia did not sit in her usual spot the next day. The man sitting at the only table that didn't have a leaky umbrella wasn't there this time, so she settled herself there and waited for the waitress. She glanced out past the fences of the terrace at the thick foliage nearby and watched the rain bounce off the leaves of the trees. It was something she saw all the time; she couldn't remember what sunshine looked like.

"Hey, is it okay if I sit here?"

The voice snapped her out of her thoughts and she turned to see the man with the dark eyes standing beside her. She was a little flustered by his sudden presence, fiddling with her fingers. "O-oh, c-certainly."

"Thanks," he said shortly and sat down without another word. A second later, he was whipping out his book again, paying her absolutely no mind.

Juvia was not used to having people want to be around her, if this could even count as that. For some reason, he hadn't just gone directly inside—and he was _reading!_ She couldn't fathom how he wanted to sit outside in the rain while ruining the paper he was reading! His presence and odd behaviour were enough to overwhelm her.

It was then that the waitress walked out of the store to take their orders. Juvia, unwilling to break the best part of her routine (unless her love called), ordered her tea. The man sitting with her absently ordered a black coffee and returned to reading.

Her fingers tapped her thighs restlessly, unsure of what to do with herself. This was ridiculous! Yesterday was the first time she'd seen this man, yet somehow he made her feel uneasy enough that she couldn't focus on anything other than him. His enigmatic presence was throwing her whole day off!

Juvia was relieved when her tea arrived. It gave her something else to look at and think about…even if there wasn't really anything to think about when it came to tea. This café always made it just right which was one of the reasons she always came back. Still, she found herself inadvertently peeking up from her glass more often than not. He was being nothing less than completely respectful. Unable to stop staring, _she_ was the rude one.

"Are you okay?"

She was so caught up in her own thoughts that she jumped in her seat at the sound of his voice. A little tea spilled out of her cup and she scrambled to keep it from dripping on her dress.

"Sorry. Didn't mean to scare you," the man apologized, visibly amused by her muddled state.

The Rain Woman quickly drew the droplets of spilled tea away from her skin with her magic and discarded them on the floor. "Juvia is—I'm fine."

"Alright then," he replied, then turned back to his book.

Rather determined not to make a fool of herself, she resolved not to pay any attention to this man for the remainder of her time at the café. Besides, she had a mission to do in a little while, a boring but easy one. Delivering a package across town was anything but glorified job, but it needed to be done. Then she could go home and wait for Bora to call, if he even did...

"Do you know what 'conscientious' means?"

His voice didn't startle her this time, luckily, because the teacup was still in her hand. Juvia stared at him quite openly, genuinely confused as to why he was asking her about vocabulary.

"'Conscientious'…?" she repeated slowly.

"Yeah. I don't read a lot, so all these long words are kind of frustrating," the man said to her casually. "I mean, you'd think a friend would recommend something easier first."

She nodded in agreement, shyly looking away from him despite it now being appropriate for her to actually stare.

"So? Do you know what it means?"

Oh, right. Juvia had forgotten that he'd asked a question in the first place. Her mind raced to remember what the word was. Conscious? No, conscientious. "Oh, um, i-it means to be aware and—and considerate of something."

He looked up in thought at her answer. "Hm, guess it makes sense in that context. Thanks."

He didn't say anything else after that and Juvia was left with more questions about this man than ever. She tried hard not get drawn into the mystery of him. She had more important things to think about than men and their odd behaviour. After all, half the time she didn't even understand her own boyfriend.

They spent the rest of their time together in silence. Seconds ticked by and glasses emptied, one man reading and one woman pondering. Eventually, Juvia had to leave for her delivery. She sighed as she stood to leave, glad that the encounter was over. Maybe tomorrow things would go back to normal.

* * *

When things did not go back to normal the next day, Juvia only got more frustrated. As she approached the café, she realized that the man with the book was already sitting at the table. Briefly, she thought about just turning around and walking away from the whole thing, but her morning had been terrible. She _needed_ her tea. This enigmatic man would not deter today.

Juvia marched up to him with her parasol and exhaled loudly. "May I sit here?"

He looked up away from his book. "Oh, you and me again, huh? Suit yourself."

She sat down with a huff and closed her umbrella. The waitress waved at her knowingly through the window. She was thankful she didn't have to place an order; having a conversation was the last thing she wanted right now.

"Are you okay?"

Oh no. He was talking to her again. _Why_ did he have to talk to her again?

"Juvia is—!" She stopped herself, knowing how strangely she came off as when she didn't try to talk like everyone else. Taking a second to compose herself, she took a deep breath in and out. "I'm fine."

He didn't seem to care about her slip in speech. "So your name's Juvia then."

Her face exploded in heat. Oh _no._ She'd accidentally told him her name and only paused because of the way she'd been talking! He wasn't supposed to know her name! They weren't supposed to know anything else about each other so she could just go on with her routine without any disturbance.

"If it helps, my name is Gray," he told her casually. He wasn't paying attention to his book anymore as the paperback was face down on the table. Instead he took a sip of his black coffee. "You seem upset."

It was an observation, not a question. She didn't know how to reply to that because he wasn't really asking her.

"To be honest, I've been waiting for a chance to talk to you."

Juvia hadn't thought she could get more embarrassed, but she was. With certainty, she was. Was this guy _hitting_ on her now?

"J-Juvia has a-a boyfriend," she told him anxiously.

Gray stared at her blankly for a second, then chuckled. "Yeah, I'm aware of that. I'm actually trying to get in touch with him."

She wasn't sure how to feel about that information. On one hand, it seemed so obvious; men rarely approached her unless they wanted something and this time was no different. On the other hand, there was a disappointment that she couldn't shake. Somehow, an expectation had developed even though they'd barely interacted.

"Then Gray-san is out of luck. Juvia does not contact him; he contacts Juvia," she said. Her voice did not waver this time. If there was one thing she disliked more than being treated poorly, it was being used.

He shrugged. "That's alright. I don't mind hanging out with you."

Wha— _what a line!_ Aside from being momentarily angered by his motives, Juvia felt weakened by his smooth-talking. The delivery was so nonchalant, so _suave_... _!_ But she couldn't give in! This was simply a tactic to reach her beloved.

"P-please leave Juvia alone!" she demanded even as the heat on her face continued to rise.

He glanced at her for a moment, his eyes betraying no emotion at all. "Sorry. Not gonna happen." Gray waved his hand absently. "I'm just a guy having coffee at a café."

Her jaw dropped at his audacity. How could he just sit there like none of that conversation had just happened? How could he just pretend she didn't know what she did? Juvia was unbearably frustrated. He couldn't just-just _harass_ her like this!

"Juvia—" she spluttered, "Juvia does not like you!"

He shrugged. "Not my job to make you like me. I'm here for business, and you wanna help your boyfriend out, don't you?"

Juvia clenched her fists, unsure of what to do. It went without saying that she wanted to support her boyfriend in whatever way she could, but she didn't know this man and she didn't trust him. Most of all, she found it incredibly insulting that he thought he could just barge in on her routine and bother her until he got what he wanted.

She took a deep breath to try and calm herself. This was not about her. This was about Bora and doing what she could to help him. Fine, this "Gray" character could stay here, but she was not going to like it.

"It's impolite to bother a lady," she declared as the waitress came outside to set down Juvia's tea.

"Maybe," he agreed, "but you were already upset when you got here. Isn't it polite to ask a distressed damsel if she's okay?"

Juvia stared at him, completely bewildered. His expression hadn't shifted in the slightest and he had somehow managed to befuddle her once again. "I-I suppose..."

"Well, I'm not going anywhere and your tea just came, so we can go on pretending like the other one isn't there or you can tell me what's eating at you," Gray said as he turned a page in his book.

She held her tea in one hand, weighing her options. Ultimately, the decision was a simple one. Regardless of how she was feeling about her boyfriend right now, she still loved him and was going to support him.

"The man with whom you wish to speak, Bora-sama... Juvia spoke with him this morning," she replied, unable to keep the bitterness entirely out of her voice. "Bora-sama does not call very often, so it is likely that Gray-san will have to wait some time before he contacts Juvia again."

His eyes were on her again, his elbow resting on the table as he held his chin. "That sounds like a real fact, but not that one that's bothering you."

Juvia placed her tea back on its serving plate with a _clink!_ Why was it that he seemed to take notice of every little thing? "Bora-sama is at sea most of the time for his business. It's been four months since he left and he refuses to come see Juvia even once."

Gray raised an eyebrow. "And you've been together for how long?"

She immediately disliked his dubious tone. "One year," she answered, her own voice frosty.

"Is that including the four months he's been gone?"

She shot him a withering stare. This man was relentless!

"Okay... _including_ ," he said, not missing a beat. "So you're telling me that his boyfriend of yours up and left you after six months to concentrate on his business, never gave you his lacrima contact, doesn't call you very often, and won't visit you after four months. Why are you with this guy again?"

"Juvia loves him!" she snapped, only seconds later realizing that she didn't have to justify her feelings to this man that she didn't even know.

But it was too late. Juvia had chosen to engage and she suddenly knew that they were going to have a full on discussion about her relationship. There was no stopping it, because for the first time, she saw something in his eyes that didn't resemble indifference.

" _Really?_ " he drawled. "You love a guy who can barely spare a second to call you?"

"Bora-sama's business is very demanding," she said.

"It's so demanding that he can't see you after a quarter of the year's passed," Gray retorted.

"It's a new business! He can't leave it!"

"Not even for a day? While he's in town? Doing a trade?" He shook his head and Juvia did not miss him rolling his eyes as he looked out into the rain. "I don't believe it."

"Why do you care?" she asked heatedly.

He looked at her with his dark eyes ablaze. "Because he shouldn't be treating you like that. _Nobody_ should be treated like that. You deserve better."

Juvia stood with her tea and chugged the rest of it down, using all of her self-control not to break the cup as she set it back down. "Then it is fortunate that Bora-sama is _the best,_ " she said before grabbing her parasol and heading off into the rain.

Of course Bora-sama was the best! That Gray could even make such despicable declarations about him was infuriating. So what if he called her annoying? So what if he acted like she was a nuisance all the time? So what if he didn't call her or visit her very much? He was the only person who had ever stayed with her even though she made it rain. When person after person let her down, he was the only one who hadn't straight out walked away. Bora...was definitely the best.

Because if he wasn't the best, then what was he?

* * *

The feeling of unease that Gray had instilled within her did not recede when she finally arrived at the Phantom Lord headquarters that day. Despite her vehement defence of her boyfriend, his words had managed to creep into the recesses of her mind. Juvia was ashamed to find that her mind was filled with doubts about both her relationship and her boyfriend. She was the worst. Loyalty was her only redeeming quality and she couldn't even maintain it.

Seeing Aria gushing with tears as soon as she walked into the foyer did not do anything to improve her mood. It seemed to be a reaction to whatever point that Sol was making to him and Totomaru. The latter didn't seem to mind much, simply smirking in Sol's direction with what was likely an arrogant reply. Even though she was part of their team, she didn't feel like finding out what was going on between them. Juvia maintained good relationships with all the members of the Element 4, but she didn't feel a particular kinship with any of them specifically.

The guild hall wasn't quiet by any means, but it was orderly and always filled with a very focused atmosphere. Their Guild Master, Jose, was always encouraging them to look their best, do their best, and strive to become more powerful because Phantom Lord was the best guild in Fiore. Of course, his unspoken reasoning for motivating them was that he hated the guild Fairy Tail with a passion and wanted to crush them in every aspect. It was the worst kept secret in the guild. Regardless, it did leave many of their members with a very serious attitude.

Juvia cared for none of that. She liked Phantom Lord because she fit in here. Nobody begrudged her for the rain that followed her around and everyone treated her with respect. Plus, missions were a great way to distract herself when she was having problems in her relationship.

 _Self-created_ problems in her relationship, anyway.

She sauntered over to the mission board to select the following day's task when a hand was placed on her shoulder. She turned to see Gajeel Redfox standing beside her with his usual stoic expression as he nudged his head in the direction of their Master's office.

"Master wants to see us for a mission," he told her, and Juvia immediately wondered if this was an _actual_ serious assignment. Gajeel was Jose's pet, whether he knew it or not. His loyalty to the guild was boundless, and besides their Master, he was the strongest mage in the guild. Jose only needed those two reasons to make Gajeel his favourite.

Juvia followed her friend to their Master's office where the rest of the Element 4 was already standing. Jose regarded them with a nod as he sat back in his chair, fingers interlaced below his chin. His facial hair was as severe as always—maybe looking a little worse with the smirk he had upon his face.

"I need all five of you to be in top shape for this mission," he said, stroking his mustache. "I was contacted by someone with immense wealth and power this morning and he has a job for us. If we are successful, Phantom Lord will undoubtedly be regarded as the best guild in Fiore."

Juvia straightened in her stance a bit. She still cared very little about her Master's ultimate ambition, but she did appreciate how much he cared for all of them and took pride in being part of a great guild like theirs. Looking around at her comrades, they looked just as ready as she was to make this mission a success.

"I presume our client is either a major politician or a company head then, Master?" Sol asked.

"Precisely," Jose answered, his grin widening. "Our client is Jude Heartfilia of Heartfilia Konzern, and he's asked us to find his daughter."


	4. Gray Fullbuster

**Author's Note:** Hey all, still playing catch-up, but once I get a little further along in the story, updates should come a bit quicker...although considering my serious lack of time, that probably doesn't mean the near future... Again, I want to really emphasize that whatever I publish won't be abandoned, regardless of how long the next update takes. Stick with me and I will stick with you!

As always, thank you to everyone for your feedback, favs, and alerts. They do not go unnoticed or unappreciated!

Yes, I was thinking about melonpan when I wrote this chapter. I just really like melonpan...

* * *

 _Lying was an easy thing for him to do. He was calm under pressure where others panicked and he was quick-witted enough to counter anything that was asked of him. His word selection was always intentional and he never gave up more of the truth than strictly necessary. Talented was what he was. His leaders saw that in him. None of that meant he enjoyed being told to lie._

 _When it was lower than dirt scumbags he needed to work, it was never a problem. People like that just had it coming—stepping on others to get what you want was liable to get you stabbed in the back at some point—but to involve someone nobody was even sure had the information they needed rubbed him the wrong way. Gray didn't trust Natsu's intelligence. He trusted that stupid letter even less._

 _"How are you going to play this?" Erza asked as they stood by the guild entrance with Levy. The two women were tasked with preparing him before he headed out to the caf_ _é_ _for the first time._

 _He didn't like the words Erza was using. "To play" meant that there was a game going on, that there was somebody who was going to win it, but toying with someone's feelings was not a game to him. He didn't sign up to hurt anyone, even if he had an angle._

 _"As close to the truth as possible," he answered irritably as he shoved his hands into his pockets. The more he thought about this mission, the more stifling his clothes seemed to become. "Do I really have to do this?"_

 _"If there's a chance this brings us closer to a kidnapping victim? Yes," Levy replied dryly. "This girl is our best connection to Bora. If she knows anything about how to contact him or where to find him, you need to get that information."_

 _Erza seemed to sense his continued hesitation and placed a hand on his shoulder "I know you're skeptical about this whole mission, but you trust me, don't you? And Yukino?" Gray nodded. "Good. Then that's all you need to remember when you get there."_

 _"Oh!" Levy exclaimed, her index finger popping up. She rummaged through her side bag for a second before pulling out a book. "And take this! You're going to get bored if you're just sitting at a caf_ _é_ _for hours staring into space."_

 _Gray accept the paperback and glanced at the cover. "'The Key to Unlocking Yourself'...?"_

 _She grinned and Gray sighed, the underlying message she was sending him much too obvious. He only hoped that girl would give up the information after a day so he'd hear no word of any of this ever again._

* * *

 _ **Branded**_ by HawkofNavarre

 **Chapter 4**

 _ **Gray Fullbuster**_

* * *

It was official; Gray hated this book.

He was a little over halfway through it, and though he wasn't much of a reader, he had a lot of time to burn while Juvia wasn't at the cafe...which she hadn't been for the last two days. Gray hadn't dared to tell anyone at the guild that. If Natsu found out, he'd create an uproar that would disrupt the entire mission that _he'd_ _brought_ to the guild. If Erza found out, Gray would immediately be pulled from this assignment for such a royal screw up. The only thing he could've done that might be considered a worse move was take off his shirt in front of her and reveal that he was part of Fairy Tail. When Phantom Lord's guild master saw them as such intense rivals, there was no way Juvia would ever continue associating with him if she found out he was one of the "enemy."

Still, Gray couldn't take back the things he'd said. Before meeting her, he'd already been reluctant about taking on the mission for a number of reasons. Now that he knew who she was and how she was being treated, he wanted nothing more than to help her distance herself from this situation. The ever elusive Bora was real. Gray knew that now, and he was a really shitty person at that.

The major screw up had been his approach. No matter how terrible of a human being Bora was, Juvia still seemed to deeply care for the man. Gray's blunt opinion clearly hadn't been helpful in any way. He could find a better way if it meant showing her she deserved better.

…Of course, that was assuming she was ever going to show her face here again. He really hoped she would because this book was the absolute worst.

" _Do you ever feel guilty? Do you ever feel at fault for the pain and suffering of someone else?_ " the book had asked him. It had to be mocking him. _Levy_ had to be mocking him. This was definitely the chapter she'd wanted him to get to. " _If so, this is not an unusual thing to feel. Many feel responsible for something negative happening in someone else's life, but this is a feeling that can drown you if you let it. When guilt, shame, and blame are all self-directed, it guards your ability to be truly happy. As such, this chapter's Key is one of the most important of all: The Key to Forgiving Yourself._ "

By the hair of The First, he hated this book.

Gray tossed the book on the table with disgust, not caring whether or not the water damage on it worsened. If Levy wanted it back in pristine condition, she shouldn't have given it to him to read during this mission. Or under false pretenses, for that matter.

Speaking of water damage… Gray looked around to see that it had started raining quite heavily. He leaned back and inhaled the cool, humid air. There was always something that was so soothing about the way rain made the air feel. Maybe it was just how the mist stood on his skin or the way his magic prickled at his fingertips in the presence of moisture, begging for him to create a work of art from the world's materials. He loved that feeling, because it didn't rain that often in Magnolia. At least, it didn't unless a certain mage was around.

As he raised his eyes forward, he found Juvia standing on the sidewalk outside the café's patio. She looked a little alarmed underneath her parasol, as if she were surprised to see him sitting there. For a moment, Gray had to force himself not to react. His heart was hammering hard in his chest in anticipation of her next move. Would she come in for her tea? Or would she walk away now that she knew he was here?

With a small grimace of her lips, she moved past the fence that surrounded the place and sat down at the table next to his. She was sitting in the same spot she'd been in when he first saw her here, which was a step backwards, but at least she was actually within eyeshot now. The real challenge was how he was going to get her to sit with him again. It'd been quite the challenge last time to figure out where to sabotage the umbrella she was sitting under just enough that it would annoy her into moving. Now she was braving rain water in her tea just so she didn't have to sit with him.

"Good to see you again," Gray said nonchalantly, though he was racking his brain to figure out how he was going to open a dialogue with her again now that she was actively trying to ignore him.

Juvia stared at the door to the café without any acknowledgement that she'd heard him whatsoever.

He reached forward to grab Levy's spawn-of-the-devil book and collapsed back into his seat. "You must've been busy. You were gone for a couple of days."

Again, she pretended like he wasn't talking to her. Gray carried on, hoping that he would somehow break through this wall of silence somehow.

"I'm not the quickest reader, but I really made some headway in this thing while you were away," he said as casually waved the object around. "Glad you came back with those rain clouds, though. If the water ruins this book, I'll have an excuse not to read the rest of it. It's a pain in the—"

"You like the rain...?" she suddenly cut in quietly. Juvia's gaze was no longer aimed in whatever direction was away from his face and her eyes shimmered with apprehension.

Gray wasn't sure exactly what he'd said to warrant that reaction, but he seemed to be on the right track. He had to tread carefully if he was going to recover the relationship he'd blown last time. "Well, it can be a little gloomy," he started honestly, "but I've always liked the way it feels on my skin. And it doesn't rain a lot around these parts, so I actually enjoy it when it does."

Juvia seemed to contemplate his answer for a moment before she followed up. "Then...it does not bother Gray-san that it always rains around Juvia?"

He shrugged. "Why would it?"

She smiled shyly and blushed, allowing Gray's heart rate to slow considerably. He'd done it. He'd managed to get her back on his side.

"Sometimes Juvia doesn't mind the rain so much either," she said. Her tone was amiable, like her comment was a peace offering.

"Listen, I'm…" Gray absently flipped through the pages of his book. "I'm sorry, for what I said the other day. I was out of line."

"Juvia accepts your apology," she replied softly with the barest of nods. She didn't say anything else, but did wave her hand at the waitress who finally saw them through the window. Feeling like he should quit while he was ahead, Gray firmly kept his mouth shut and turned the book to random page, though his eyes never left her.

A moment later, the water mage flinched a little when a raindrop snuck through a tiny hole in the umbrella and fell on her nose. She wiped it off carefully, letting the droplet sit on her fingertip as she stared at it thoughtfully. Eventually, she closed her hand into a fist and the water disappeared. Juvia placed her knuckle under her chin as her eyes dropped shut with a sigh.

Watching her, there were a million things Gray wanted to ask, but it wasn't the right time. Instead, he moved his eyes to the pages in front of him, all the while wondering why she seemed to care so much about the rain.

* * *

Gray knew they had truly made amends when Juvia sat with him the next day. And the day after that. _And_ the day after that. The moment she showed up, she would politely inform him Bora had not yet contacted her and she would take a seat across from him. They talked about everything and nothing, from her guild's big mission of finding some rich dude's daughter to the proper way to each sandwiches. Sometimes there were long stretches of comfortable silence where Gray would simply (and begrudgingly) read his wretched book while Juvia sewed a _teru-teru b_ _ō_ _zu_. When she showed him a plushie she'd made of one of her guild mates, Gray discovered that this girl was quite the crafty person.

Despite her claim that she disliked him, she had strangely become very open with him. She had spoken to him candidly ever since that comment he'd made about the rain. Between her strange fixation on the weather and the little prayer dolls she was making, Gray had to be blind not to realize that she had some deep-seeded psychological issue related to the rain that followed her around.

Erza called all of that research, but the mission was growing more uncomfortable to Gray by the day. Although Juvia had some strange quirks, it was clear to him that she was just a pretty decent person in general. She never badmouthed the people in her guild and seemed to work hard at her jobs. Even her initial response to him had been quite honest. She was...sweet.

Juvia just wasn't the type of person he was used to working. She was in a position with Bora that she clearly didn't deserve to be in. The longer he spent with her and the more he learned about her, the worse he felt about lying to her. How much she really knew about her boyfriend was up in the air, but he knew in his gut that she wouldn't condone anything Bora was doing. Still, he had to make sure.

It had been just shy of a week since they'd started sitting together again that Gray noted the sun peeking through the clouds, apparently determined not to allow the rain to drown out all its effects. Juvia came into view only a few seconds later. This time, along with her parasol, she was carrying a pink cardboard box with her. She was humming happily as she set the box down on the table they shared and she closed her umbrella.

"You're awfully chipper today," he said.

"It's a very good day," Juvia replied, beaming while she opened the box. "Bora-sama has not called Juvia yet, but I have a very good feeling that he will soon!"

Gray raised an eyebrow. "And why is that?"

She lifted a small bread bun out of the box, brandishing it with glee. "Melonpan!"

He stared at the bread in her hands, wondering if she were actually crazy after all. If there were ever a time that he thought melonpan would somehow change his entire day, he'd ask Natsu to bash him over the head.

When he didn't say a word, Juvia was content to continue chattering on herself. "You see, when Juvia met Bora-sama, it was in the very bakery this melonpan is from. Their melonpanin particular is very popular, so it's often sold out whenever Juvia goes, but they had some left that day." She passed the bread over to Gray who accepted it. "I received the last two and Bora-sama was behind me. He was so disappointed, Juvia decided to share one with him, and from then on, Juvia was forever bonded to him!"

Juvia picked up the second one with hearts in her eyes. "And today, there were only two melonpan left at the bakery! It's a sign! Juvia knows it!"

Gray withheld the crazy diagnosis, but was definitely finding her to be overly optimistic in an almost deluded way. Obviously Bora had done quite a number on her if she was this far gone. Still, it physically pained him to see someone admiring a kidnapping slave-owner. Was Bora that good of a sweet-talker or was Juvia just the type of girl who fell head over heels in love with her boyfriend of the day?

"That's lucky for me," Gray said. He took a bite of the bread, noting the pleasant sweetness of the bun and the buttery crunch of the top crust. It was no wonder this bakery's melonpanwas always sold out. "Sounds like you really love the guy."

She quieted for a moment, her enthusiasm muted as she chewed her bread. "Juvia...is always followed by the rain. Most people don't like to be around that all the time. Even Bora-sama likes to take some time away from it, but he has stayed with Juvia. That never happens outside the guild."

"Well, I'm still here, aren't I?" he asked pointedly. "Think your boyfriend would mind that you've been spending so much time with me over the last week?"

A shade of red took over Juvia's face and Gray grinned. She was so easily flustered.

"J-Juvia's trying to h-help Bora-sama's business!" she stuttered out.

"And you're sharing your sacred love bread with me. This is starting to look a little suspect," he continued as her eyes, glued to the melonpan in his hands, widened in realization.

"That's not what Juvia intended at all!" she wailed in horror.

With the girl mentally panicking over her decision to bring him bread, Gray took pity on her. As much fun as it was to watch her flounder, he was already putting her through enough. Maybe they hadn't quite become friends, but there _was_ a level of trust between them that he was already breaking.

"Calm down. I was joking anyway," he said as he went straight back to business. "So you think I'll get to meet him soon?"

"I will be sure to tell him about Gray-san!" Juvia replied. "He will be glad to know that his company is becoming popular!"

Yeah...he'd sure be thrilled that some random guy knew about his floating festival of abduction. "Sure. Just let him know that I'm really looking forward to doing business." Gray just really hoped she didn't ask what kind, because he had no idea what Bora had told his girlfriend about the kind of trading he did if she didn't know the truth.

"Oh, that's right!" she said, blinking rapidly as if she'd just remembered something. "Juvia never asked whether Gray-san wants to buy or sell."

"Buy," Gray responded quickly. He forced himself not to lose eye contact as he picked up his coffee mug with his free hand and took a sip.

Juvia didn't appear to suspect a thing. "That makes sense. Gray-san is always drinking coffee here. Juvia knows that Bora-sama's imports are the best!"

Gray struggled to hide his surprise, almost choking on his beverage. Luckily, he managed to play it off as a small cough. Of all things...she thought Bora was a _coffee importer?_ After he got past his own fortune in being a coffee drinker, it actually seemed like a pretty smart cover. Pretending to travel to different ports around Fiore to taste their blends as well as buy and sell throughout both the country and world gave him a reason to be away for long periods of time and was specific enough that Juvia wouldn't ask too many complicated questions.

Yeah, she wouldn't ask too many questions. Because she thought she knew all that there was to know. Because she thought that she was supporting her boyfriend's _legitimate_ business. She was thinking all of these things and happily buying bread that honoured their first meeting.

Gray's grip on his melonpan tightened. Watching her sit across from him contently nibbling at her bread, he thought about everything he'd learned about her in the last few days. This girl...she was just a genuinely good person with a kind heart. He couldn't stand the fact that Bora was treating her like dirt. He couldn't stand the fact that he _himself_ was sitting here and lying to get her to do what he wanted.

He suppressed his emotions like he was supposed to for the rest of the day, but the bread felt heavy in his stomach as Juvia chatted on about how she'd come across the bakery. _La For_ _ê_ _t Cache_ _é_ , it was called, but Gray couldn't concentrate long enough to remember anything else she said about the place. She had to leave about ten minutes later—earlier than usual—because she had to work on that big mission for her guild. It gave Gray a reason to head back to his own guild headquarters feeling worse than usual.

The rain had departed with Juvia, but he stared at the darkened pavement beneath his feet with every step. Sunlight refracted through the droplets of water perched on the windows, sparkling almost too brightly. He brought a hand up to shield his eyes as he traveled. That girl, Lucy, and all the other girls she was with...they didn't have this view. They were missing out on the simplest pleasures in life, like walking through a town. If deceiving one girl was going to allow them to set that right, wasn't it worth it? Logically, it was, but he somehow couldn't make this whole thing feel less wrong.

As soon as he stepped through Fairy Tail's doors, Gray stripped off his shirt, feeling suffocated by the weight of his own thoughts. He couldn't believe he'd been able to able to keep all of his clothes on around Juvia for a week.

Oh _jeez_ , he wondered what response Juvia would have to a comment like that.

"If you keep your face like that, it's going to stick," Erza told him as she came up beside him in her favourite Heart Kreuz armour. "Any progress today?"

He grimaced, as he'd been doing a lot lately. Gray couldn't be sure that his face _wasn't_ stuck considering how terrible he felt. "Maybe, I dunno. She thinks he'll call soon for some absurd reason."

Erza shrugged. "Sounds like a good thing to me. The sooner the better. Besides, as soon as we figure out how to get to Bora, you won't have to do this anymore," she said, placing a hand on Gray's shoulder which didn't make him feel better at all.

"I shouldn't be doing this _now_ ," he retorted as he swiped her hand away. "Juvia doesn't know _anything_. She thinks her jerk of a boyfriend is a coffee importer."

Erza frowned, looking ready to knock some sense into him, but she remained stationary. "I know this is hard for you, but she's the only connection we have to a man who's abducting innocent girls. If you stop this mission now, your conscience isn't going to be clear either way," she said. "I'm not asking you to be without compassion, but think about the consequences of being indecisive. Don't make this about you."

He felt as if someone had stabbed him with an ice pick. She certainly hadn't hesitated in driving that point home, not that she was wrong. Gray really didn't want Juvia or any of the missing girls to get hurt, but he wasn't even sure that he was putting them first. Erza had a really good point. He was just wrapped up in the guilt of his part in this mission. Having already established a relationship with Juvia, there were only two courses of action: quitting or continuing. It went without saying that the outcome of continuing was the lesser of two evils.

"I get it. It's not about me," he grumbled.

His senior nodded in satisfaction. "Good. Let's just get this done and you can focus on making things right then."

Gray tried to find the positives of this commitment. He would help save the lives of a bunch of girls who were no older than he was. He would get to expose to Juvia the horrible scumbag Bora was, even if she hated the way he did it. Maybe this would be good for her. Maybe. He had to see it from that perspective or how else was he supposed to continue this job?

A door loudly closed from the second floor landing and Gray looked up, seeing the library door fall shut behind his childhood rival. Natsu locked eyes with him almost immediately and sprinted down the staircase with Happy in tow. Gray inwardly sighed. The man had been insufferable since fishing that bottle out of the water.

"You find him yet?" he asked as he skid to a stop in front of them.

"Not quite, but soon," Erza assured him, but this didn't seem to satisfy the dragon slayer.

Natsu clenched his fists, scowling deeply. "It's always 'not quite' or 'soon'! This is taking too long!" He turned his glare on Gray and pointed an accusing finger at him. "You didn't want to do this mission in the first place! _I_ should've gone instead of getting stuck on research duty with Levy!"

"Seriously?" Gray scoffed as he shoved Natsu's arm out of his face. "I'm _helping_ you, 'cause you couldn't pull off this mission if you tried. You could be a little more grateful, lizard face."

Heat radiated off his rival who was baring his teeth. Gray had half a mind to start cooling him off, but Erza's presence held him back. The last thing he wanted to do was piss off the Titania when she already looked like she was about to skewer someone with her sword if someone dared to make one more wrong move.

At first, he was sure that Natsu was going to start a fight, but in the next moment, the dragon slayer stood up straight and out of combat position.

"You know what? I'm sick of waiting," he said, looking at Erza pointedly. "I did what you and Master told me to and we aren't any closer to finding Lucy. I'm going to look for her myself! Let's go, Happy!"

"Aye!" the small cat responded, and the two of them went running through the exit.

Gray stared at their retreating backs for an instant, then glanced curiously back at Erza. "You're not going after them?"

She sighed in exasperation, but no longer looked like she was going to stab anyone. "You know as well as I do how he gets. I could stop him physically, but I can't babysit him. Letting him feel like he's doing something is better for all of us. Maybe now Levy can _actually_ get some research done."

"What exactly is she researching anyway?" he asked.

"Well, tracking port traffic, for one thing, but she's also seeing if she can find out who else might be on that boat. She might not find anything, but at least if she does, we've got more of a lead than just Bora's girlfriend." Erza sent him a meaningful glance. "If we're lucky, we won't need another lead though."

"Let's hope we're lucky then," he muttered as he silently prayed that Bora really did contact Juvia soon. Doing this for a week was already too much. He couldn't fathom doing this for another one, because this wasn't about him, but he couldn't stop the feeling that was eating him from the inside.

* * *

Juvia was late—later than usual. There was usually a window of about 30 minutes where she would arrive every morning, but it was already ten minutes past that. Gray wondered if maybe her optimism had paid off and Bora had actually come to visit her or something. That seemed unlikely though, knowing the type of man her boyfriend was.

If he were being honest, he was a _tad_ worried about where she ended up, but that was mostly because he had too much time to let his mind wander. The only thing that he had to occupy himself was that wretched book that Levy had given him, and that was clearly the worst book ever. Please, the Key to Forgiving Yourself? What a load of crap. Watching paint dry was preferable.

When another ten minutes of dry weather passed, Gray decided that he would only stay for another ten to see if she showed up. A full hour was a fair amount of time to wait.

It was only a second later that he felt a speck of water hit his face, causing him to blink. He looked up to the sky where dark clouds were beginning to form. The sound of a raindrop hitting the surface of the umbrella brought a grin to his face. As the rain grew heavier, he kept his eyes looking east, knowing exactly where she'd come from.

Sure enough, Juvia appeared before him under her parasol. She looked a little different than usual. It was her hair, he thought. It wasn't curled up along the sides like she always styled it. Instead, her hair hung loosely down onto her shoulders in messy blue waves. Gray briefly wondered if the change was for a special occasion of some sort until he saw her face. Her eyes were red and puffy and her cheeks a little chapped, likely aggravated from being wiped.

"Hey, are you okay?" he asked, his chest physically throbbing from seeing her in this state. Is this what he would do to her if she ever found out the truth…?

"Juvia spoke with Bora-sama this morning," she said, her voice dull. "Bora-sama would like to meet with you."

He looked at her quizzically. "Isn't that a good thing?"

"Yes," she replied, almost whispering.

"Juvia," he started as he grasped her shoulders in concern, "if it's good, then I don't understand. What's _wrong?_ "

Juvia swallowed audibly, as if holding something back. "Bora-sama would like to see you," she said, "but...he doesn't want to see me."


	5. This Key

**Author's Note:** Hey! It's been awhile! I've got lots of editing to do, but I'm making steady progress on this fic. Is everyone reading 100 Years Quest? How about Edens Zero? Personally, I'm enjoying both so far.

As always, thank you for the feedback!

* * *

 _Finding privacy was not an easy thing to do when stuck on a ship controlled by men. Lucy was certainly not alone on days where she was paraded around in skimpy clothing. Those days were exhausting, mentally more so than physically. Standing around and doing Bora's bidding eventually hurt her feet, though it was not nearly as taxing as being stuck on cleaning duty for one of the washrooms._

 _She was on her hands and knees on the floor, scrubbing the old wood beneath her with a damp rag. Sighing, she turned over and sat with her back against the wall. Lucy stared at the toilet across from her that was crusted with old urine and stained brown inside along the water line. The sink wasn't much better. It'd originally been white, but had developed a yellowish sheen from old age. Worse, the metal of the faucet was chipping off on various parts and rust was leaking down towards the drain. She didn't even want to think about what the specks on the porcelain were from. The fact that she was supposed to clean this room was bad enough._

 _On the other hand, she was alone. Lucy fished out the key she'd stuck into the side of her bra, clutching it like a lifeline. This was the only one she had left—her one connection to the outside world that she had remaining._

 _Lucy held her key forward, keeping her voice low so as to not alert the guard. "Open the Gate of the Canis Minor, Nikora!"_

 _She felt a pull on what little magic she had left in her reserve and a small spirit came tumbling out of thin air, landing on his feet with a flourish. He looked like other dog spirits she had seen in books before with a round head and horn-like nose, but his cute button eyes were unique and his whole body was white. The dog spirit beamed at her despite his nonstop trembling._

 _"Puu! Puun!" he greeted her enthusiastically._

 _Lucy smiled back at the little spirit, the one beam of light in her life. She could feel the beads of sweat forming on her skin already. Her magic reserves were already fading. "You're name's Plue? It's nice to meet you. I'm Lucy." She shook his paw and got straight to business. "Which days work for you?"_

 _"Puun! Puu puun!"_

 _She nodded, trying to remember exactly what he was saying as she wiped the sweat from her brow. "I'm sorry. I don't have a lot of time."_

 _He patted the top of her hand gently, as if he understood. To her surprise, Plue climbed into her lap and lay his body flat against her torso, his arms wide. It was only after a second that she realized that he was hugging her. Lucy stroked his head with a smile. She...really needed that._

* * *

 ** _Branded_** by HawkofNavarre

 **Chapter 5**

 ** _This Key_**

* * *

Lucy was absolutely convinced that Arisa had been sent by some higher power to make her life more miserable. If the cracking skin on her fingers or status as a captive to a madman weren't bad enough, this girl certainly made things pretty terrible.

She liked to talk. Of course, if talking were all it was, Lucy's opinion of this insufferable harpy likely wouldn't be as harsh. Unfortunately, the obnoxious narcissistic bragging started as soon as she woke up, usually to Rei who was pumped too full of drugs to really process what was being said to her. When on the receiving end of the same treatment, Kagura was too passive to say anything mean and too indifferent to ask her to go away. Lucy, on the other hand, was short-tempered. She couldn't handle more than two minutes of the chatter before telling Arisa off. This never boded well for Lucy considering Arisa was a major snitch.

Lucy was never going to understand how anyone would possibly _want_ the attention of the man who kidnapped them, but there was living proof in her room right now. Today she was bothering Kagura who sort of mindlessly nodded along. Rei was on her cleaning shift for the day, leaving Lucy to spend some blessed time on her own. This was nothing close to real privacy, but being left alone with her thoughts during the day was a rare thing to come by.

She lay on her stomach, the scratchiness of the mattress against her skin making her belly itch. Reaching forward, she tucked her hand into the hole she'd picked into the side of her mattress and wrapped her fingers around the Canis Minor key. Her thumb ran over the smooth ridges of the symbol, sighing as the tension left her body. That key offered her comfort like nothing else on this wretched boat.

"What's _your_ deal, blondie?" Arisa asked from her spot on Kagura's mattress. "Ever since you got Touya in trouble, you've been all whiny and brooding. That kind of thing is for, like, Fumiko. You don't pull it off like her."

Letting out an exasperated huff, Lucy let go of her key and turned over on her mattress. There were so many things wrong with that last statement that she didn't even know where to start.

Firstly, she hadn't gotten Touya in trouble; as soon as Bora walked back into his office that day, he'd come to his own conclusions. The man had punished Touya in some way that Lucy hadn't been privy to, but the next time she saw him, he had two black eyes, a swollen jaw line, and he stayed far away from her. She'd left the room without any difficulty only because she'd been sitting on the ground like a good little girl by the time he'd gotten back. She was also slightly satisfied the man had gotten a bit of what he deserved.

Second of all, it was just plain wrong to compare her to Fumiko. Both of them had certainly underwent a rather traumatizing experience, but Fumiko had been paraded around naked in front of the entire crew while they harassed her by pinching her skin and throwing food. The girl was completely shattered from that incident, not "whiny and brooding." Lucy, at least, counted herself lucky to have escape such a horrifying event like that.

And lastly, she wasn't trying to pull off anything. She was angry and filled with angst—which, oddly enough, were the emotions she would've described back when she was stuck at home as well. In truth, all she'd done was go from one prison to the next. At least the first one had had better living conditions.

"Why don't you just worry about yourself?" Lucy retorted, staring down the brunette with an aggravated expression.

"Oh I'm not worried," she replied with a haughty shrug, "you just happen to be in my sightline and it's a very annoying sight."

"I hope I make your eyes bleed," Lucy muttered under her breath.

"What was that, blondie?"

"Leave her alone, Arisa," Kagura finally cut in. She was seated on her bed with her knees pulled up into her chest. "I don't see why you're trying to pick a fight. She's on cleaning duty as soon as Rei gets back anyway."

Arisa scoffed and threw her waist-length hair back before standing up and retreating to her own mattress. "You're pretty annoying too."

 _That makes three of us,_ Lucy thought to herself as she rolled her eyes. Fortunately, Arisa lay down and turned to face the wall while Lucy mouthed a "thank you" to the only person on this ship she even remotely considered an ally. Kagura sent back a small nod before closing her eyes. The girl retreated into her own world as she sat cross-legged in silence. It was something Kagura commonly did to pass the time. Lucy thought maybe she was meditating.

A few more minutes passed before Rei returned from her shift cleaning. The henchman who had escorted her looked pointedly at Lucy who discreetly tucked the Canis Minor key into her closed fist. She stood and walked by her roommate without a word. Rei rarely said anything these days anyway, but the broken skin on her hands indicated that she'd probably been on duty in the engine room. Bora had little use for her since he'd started on her sedatives. It was no mystery as to why he always assigned her the jobs using steel wool.

Lucy was thankful that she ended up on laundry duty for the day. It would spare her hands the cruel treatment Rei had undergone and the physical exertion wasn't as intense. Although cleaning shit stains off a bunch of men's underwear was not her definition of "fun," at least Bora had actually put a washer and dryer on the ship.

There were three sets of utilities in the laundry room and that generally meant that two other girls were working in there with her, but for whatever reason, today she was alone. The clothes bin beside the door did look a little sparse compared to usual. With the guard waiting for her outside for the duration of her shift, she hid her key in her bra and got working right away. The best thing about doing laundry was that when the clothes were in the washer, she could get a minute to herself. That meant she could possibly call Plue again—something she'd been itching to do ever since she'd summoned him the first time.

She dragged the clothing bin over to the folding bench of the dark room and began sorting the articles into piles, far past cringing over dirty underwear. It was much nicer to think about the maids back home who had taught her how to do all these instrumental house chores. When she'd been living at home, she had been so starved for attention that even doing housework sounded good if she had someone to do it with her.

It didn't take long for Lucy to organize the dirty clothes and place them in the washers. A perfect three loads went in and she pulled clothes out of the dryer and discarded them on the bench. With the clothes washing and lots of things to fold, she thought it was the perfect time to summon Nikora.

She pointed the key forward, trying to stay as quiet as she'd been the last time. "Open the Gate of the Canis Minor, Nikora!"

Plue abruptly fell into the pile of clothes on the bench and clumsily stood back up to wave at her. The little celestial spirit looked a bit ridiculous as he blearily smiled at her with a pair of boxers hanging off his pointy nose. Lucy bit back a laugh. It was such a warm feeling. When was the last time she had felt good about something?

"Puun," he said as he pointed to his waving hand. It was only then that Lucy realized he was carrying something that looked like a pen with him.

She took the pen from him curiously. There seemed to be a piece of paper coiled tightly around the object, bound by the pen clip. Her brow furrowed as she pulled the pen away to let the paper unfurl. There was writing on it and her whole body spasmed in shocked when she read the first word.

 _Lucy._

The piece of paper fluttered to the floor, curling back into itself, and she stared at it in disbelief. _Why was her name on it?_

Still frozen in place, her brain still wasn't quite working when Plue stumbled off the bench with a bunch of underwear latched around his little limbs. At least the boxers had fallen off his nose. He picked up the paper and waved it at her forcefully.

She tried to pull herself together and do the logical thing. Plue only had her best interests at heart and every second that she spent in a daze was another second wasted. There was no telling when she would get another chance to be alone. With that in mind, she accepted the note and smoothed it out against the surface of the workbench. She swallowed as she read her name again, trying to slow her heart rate.

 _Lucy,_

 _I found your letter in Hargeon's harbour and I want you to know that I'm going to help you. My friend Yukino has your keys. She's a Celestial Spirit Mage so she'll take good care of them. We talked to your spirit Aquarius too. I think she's worried about you, but she'll be okay because I'm going to find you._

 _Aquarius told us you have a key for Canis Minor, so we're giving this letter to Yukino's bug thing and hoping he'll find yours. We know your name and if you're reading this, now you know ours. If you get this, write us back. We'll find you. I promise._

"Na...tsu...?" she said out loud. It was the name signed at the bottom of the note, the person who claimed she would save her. Her and Yukino.

A flurry of emotions ran through her as she stared at the ink the page. She didn't quite know how to settle herself after learning all of these things. Her mind was working overtime just trying to focus on one thing. Then, instead of doing something productive with the new information she'd just obtained, she clutched the letter in her hands as her elbows fell to her thighs and she hunched over, crying. The overwhelming sense of relief spilled out of her like a broken dam.

Someone had found her letter. Someone had written her back. When Lucy had penned that letter, she'd never in a million years thought it would be discovered in her lifetime. She didn't need to calculate the odds to know that it was nearly impossible, that she would have to rely solely on herself to get out of this hellhole. And to hear that _Aquarius_ cared about her was something that could barely compute. Good things didn't happen to her. Her mother had died, the spirit left behind for her hadn't respected her, her father had turned bitter, and she'd gotten kidnapped by some scumbag when she tried to turn things around for herself. Yet somehow, _somehow_ , someone had found her letter in the very harbour she'd been taken away from.

Lucy let out a shaky chuckle in amusement. What a damn coincidence.

"Pun puun," said Plue as he patted her gently on the leg.

"You're right. I need to pull it together," she replied with a small smile, sniffling. "I've only got enough magic to keep your gate open for five more minutes."

She clicked the pen open and turned the piece of paper over to write a concise reply. Prioritizing what to write was a bit of a struggle while she was both maintaining Plue's gate and overcome with emotion, but she managed it—and with neater penmanship than the first letter, even. Processing could come later; it was a welcome change from the self-loathing.

When her response was done, Lucy wound the sheet back around the pen and clipped it the same way she'd received it. Plue was already reaching for the package before it was done.

As he held the pen tightly in both hands, Lucy crouched down and pat the spirit on the head. "Thanks for everything, Plue. I'll call you again as soon as I can."

The spirit was on a mission. He nodded at her with determination in his eyes, quickly chirping out his goodbye before he disappeared in a magical puff. Lucy sighed as she felt the pull on her magic settle. She leaned back on her hands and took a deep breath, exhaling as she let herself smile. The rumble of the washing machines kept her firmly in reality, but she didn't mind. Straightening only a second later, she began folding the clothes that were strewn around her.

After all, the laundry still had to be done.

* * *

"Oops—sorry. I didn't hurt you, did I?"

"It's fine."

Lucy chortled a bit at Kagura's response. Even the most stoic of them was prone to boredom, which was why the teen was allowing Lucy to pick out the split ends of her hair. Though she was generally fairly skilled at working with hair, Lucy had most certainly slipped a couple of times and accidently tugged Kagura's hair at the roots. Regardless, zero complaints came out of her mouth. It barely looked as if she had even felt it.

Kagura continued to sit perfectly still as Lucy worked at her hair. The whole thing was rather mundane, but it was a welcome alternative to Arisa's ramblings. It gave Kagura an excuse to meditate and Lucy an activity to concentrate on instead of wondering every five minutes if Natsu and Yukino had received her reply. Besides, Kagura had beautiful hair. They got to shower once each week and somehow her hair still looked like she was washing it every day.

Lucy was working on a particularly stubborn strand of hair when Arisa piped up. "What the hell's this?"

She squinted at the split end, sour that the thing wasn't cooperating with her. Kagura's hair really deserved better than this. Frayed ends had no place in that beautiful head of hair. Of course, there was no way to truly get rid of all the tattered ends without a trim.

"Lucy."

She paused at the sound of Kagura's voice this time, looking up from her work in confusion. The younger girl hadn't moved from her spot, but her eyes were trained directly in front of them were Arisa was standing on top of Lucy's mattress. Worse, she was holding Lucy's celestial key.

Several emotions immediately surfaced as she jumped to her feet, but the main one was panic. "Why are you poking around my mattress?" Lucy demanded, already on the borderline of hysterics.

"Please, I found it fair and square on the floor. I think the _real_ question is why this was lying around near your bed in the first place," Arisa replied with a haughty look on her face. She turned the key over in her fingers a few times, looking at it with disinterest. "Not sure why you care so much either. It's a pretty dull accessory. Did you lift it from the dressing room?"

Lucy took a step forward, her shoulders raised in tension. She couldn't care less about what the other girl thought about magical key aesthetics, but there was no chance in hell that she was going to leave Nikora in those hands. Internally, she was cursing herself. What kind of person would so carelessly put away something so important to her? A stupid one. She was _so stupid._

"Just give it back," she hissed.

Arisa hummed as she glanced around the room, feigning thought. "No, I don't think so."

"You just said you don't like it."

"I said it was dull, not that I didn't like it."

Lucy glared. Of course she was going to resort to semantics.

"Besides," Arisa started smugly, "now that I know you care so much about it, I think I'm going to keep it."

"You can't," Lucy said in a low voice. At this point, she was ready to use whatever energy she had on fighting her roommate. Her knees were bent and her fists were clenched with the desire to drive them into someone's face.

Arisa smirked. "What are you going to do about it?"

That was it; an open invitation to fight. Lucy sprang forward but found herself being lurched back by a set of hands on her shoulders. Her head whipped around to see Kagura holding on to her, a warning in her eyes.

"It's not worth it," she said, her hands tightening around Lucy's shoulders.

But it _was_ worth it, and Lucy didn't know how to express this because literally the only thing on her mind was how she could kill Arisa with her bare hands for messing with her keys. Kagura simply couldn't understand how important that simple item was to her. Some girls would be broken by being stripped naked and tossed around by crew members, but Lucy knew she would break if she lost the spirit that had given her hope. Losing that key felt like losing _everything_.

Lucy stopped fighting Kagura's grip. She stilled, but the rage swirling inside her did not. "You can't have it."

"Finders keepers," Arisa replied.

She nearly lost it again, but Kagura moved in front of her, holding an arm out to block her instead. "Give her the key, Arisa."

Arisa's face turned sour. "You two are just a merry little band, aren't you? I knew Lucy had a stick up her ass, but I thought you might be less of a bitch."

"Give her the key," Kagura repeated firmly, giving no indication that she'd heard the insult.

"Hmm, nah."

Kagura's eyes narrowed and suddenly Arisa screamed. Lucy found herself blinking in disbelief as she saw the woman plummet to the ground, crumpling into a ridiculous position. She was on her knees with her arms outstretched forward and butt in the air while the Canis Minor key, which had fallen out of her hands in the process, rolled to a stop beside Lucy's mattress.

"Get your key," Kagura told her through clenched teeth. Sweat was starting to form on her brow and her hardened eyes were trained intensely on Arisa.

Lucy looked swiftly between both of her roommates, completely stunned. "You're—"

" _Hurry_."

She didn't need to be told a third time. Stepping out from behind Kagura's arm, Lucy swiftly retrieved her key while Arisa screamed nonstop. After Nikora was safely back in her possession, she returned to Kagura's side who was breathing heavily as her expression softened. Arisa scrambled off the floor and threw her back against the wall furthest from them.

"You're _fucking crazy!_ You're some sort of magic freak!" Arisa shrieked uncontrollably. "Stay away from me, you crazy bitch!"

The screaming continued, but Lucy's attention was directed on the banging now coming from the other side of the door. "Hey! Shut the hell up! What's going on in there?" she heard one of the guards yell. He'd probably been on patrol when he heard them.

With the way Arisa was screeching, Lucy knew it was impossible that the guard would leave them alone. She tucked her key away into the waistband of her shorts and pulled her shirt down over it. The banging intensified and Lucy glanced over at the door again just as it burst open.

" _What's_ _happening in here?_ " the guard, Umino, Lucy thought his name was, demanded looking fairly aggravated.

Kagura, who had composed herself and had wordlessly stood there taking all the verbal abuse that came her way without a reaction of any kind, simply pointed at Arisa who was still in the throes of a major breakdown. Umino took one look at the manic girl and his face crinkled in anger.

"Hey! Shut your mouth right now!" he bellowed, running low on patience.

However, Arisa could not be deterred in her tirade. "—use your weirdo voodoo on me! A witch! _You're a fucking witch!_ You should just kill yourself! You should—"

It was at that point that Umino stepped over to her and hauled her over his shoulder. He took her with him as he left the room, slamming the door behind him. Arisa's shrieks were audible for another good ten seconds until the room finally fell silent again. They both knew where she was headed: The Closet. It was a linen closet on the ship with its shelves torn out to house a person in hysterics. The crew would shut you in the cramped, dark space until you calmed down. Lucy knew the place well after having an anxiety attack when she'd first woken up on this ship. Now that she thought about it, it was one of the better places to be alone with your thoughts when it came to this hellhole. Arisa was lucky it was the only thing that would happen to her for flipping out like that.

And, of course, there was the reason for her flipping out in the front of Lucy's mind. She looked at Kagura who slunk back down onto her mattress in exhaustion. Lucy dropped to her roommate's level in pursuit of answers.

"You're a mage."

Kagura appeared unfazed by the statement. "As are you."

Settling herself next to Kagura, Lucy decided that there was finally one person on this ship that she might be able to trust. "I am. I'm a Celestial Spirit Mage. I can connect spirits to our world by opening a gate with their keys. What did you do to Arisa?"

For the first time, Kagura cracked a hint of a smile. "Gravitational magic. Before this whole ordeal, I was training to master swordsmanship. Gravity a is useful tool to have on your side." She paused when Lucy didn't respond right away, any traces of humour diminishing from her face. "I have to get off this ship, Lucy."

"So do I," Lucy said, "and I think I might have a way."

There was an unspoken pact that formed between the two. Kagura would watch her back and she would watch Kagura's. Everything was falling into place. Lucy told Kagura everything that happened since the night she'd almost been raped by Touya. She agreed to keep Kagura up to date on what was happening with her pen pals and both of them would keep Arisa from getting either of them in trouble.

By nightfall, Rei had returned to their room and any conversation between the allies ceased. Lucy lay awake on her mattress, staring at the ceiling. She'd made sure to put Nikora's key away securely this time and vowed to herself that she would never make the same mistake again. One day, she would look at a different ceiling that she knew wasn't part of a prison. One day, she'd wake up in a bed that she'd chosen as her own. Today, with someone on her side, at least she could fall asleep and be less afraid of what tomorrow would bring.

She closed her eyes and let sleep take her, pulling into a world where she was free. Lucy ran through a meadow, greener and more beautiful than she could describe as the grass tickled her ankles with every stride. When her legs finally started burning, she stopped, panting heavily. She looked to the vibrant sky and tasted freedom with every breath. Snow swirled in the air, but she only felt the warmth of the sun.


	6. This Mission

**Author's Note:** If you were wondering if I was still updating, then yup, I'm still updating. Sadly, I've been feeling a bit discouraged by this project as it hasn't been turning out the way I wanted it to (hence, I've been stuck in editing hell...), but I'm not giving up on it. A lot of good can still come from the bad.

Thank you, readers, for your comments, alerts, and favs! I'll be back in a couple of months.

* * *

 _I don't know how, and I don't know why, but I'm still in disbelief that someone found my letter so soon. That you have a Nikora spirit is even more of a miracle. I'm not even sure when you wrote me back, but I hope you get this soon._

 _Thank you for keeping my keys safe. I don't have a lot of time to write—it's hard to get time alone on this ship—but I'm grateful just to keep in correspondence with you. Even just that makes me feel less alone._

 _Thank you for trying to help me. Thank you, Natsu. Thank you, Yukino._

* * *

 _ **Branded**_ by HawkofNavarre

 **Chapter 6**

 _ **This Mission**_

* * *

Natsu was convinced that helping Levy with research was punishment for something. For what, he didn't know exactly, but it had to be punishment.

He hadn't been anywhere except the library in _days_. Normally, he'd be out and about on a mission, but when finding Lucy was his mission, he felt like he had to wholly commit himself to that. It just didn't feel right to continue on with his days like there wasn't something bigger going on. He knew there was and it had to be acknowledged. He couldn't split his focus when there was something he had to do that was clearly so much more important than everything else.

Hence, the research.

Levy had been highly focused on researching Bora and had instructed him to do so as well, but Natsu had gone rogue days ago. After finding no meaningful information at all of Bora, he decided that he was going to focus on learning more about Lucy. It was important to him that he knew who she was. Maybe she had loved ones that were looking for her, and if she didn't, then it was up to him to keep her memory alive. He wasn't sure if she'd gotten the letter he and Yukino had sent a few days ago, but if she got it— _when_ she got it, he wanted to make sure that she knew that there was someone out there thinking about her.

He had started with Celestial Spirits and found them more interesting than he'd anticipated. After the interaction he'd had with Aquarius, he had wondered what he could find out about her in the library. There wasn't a lot, considering how elusive the golden keys were, but he did find some information about her personality and her abilities. Unfortunately, there was nothing about who had carried the key in the past which was what he'd been curious about. He thought that maybe the person who had the key before Lucy would know more about her. That, sadly, was a dead end. Research into all of her other golden keys was as well.

Since then, Natsu had been scouring public school records to see if he could find Lucy's name in one of those. After going through twelve different schools since yesterday and seeing no trace of a "Heartfilia," he was starting to feel hopeless.

"What are you looking at?"

So engrossed in her own research, Levy hadn't thought to check up on him for the last few days. It was a little unexpected when he turned around and saw her peering over his shoulder. Before he could say anything, she was already prying the documents out from under him to look at. He sat up straight and watched her as she examined the sheets in her hands.

"Public school records, hmm?" she said as she bit her lip thoughtfully. "You know, I keep thinking that we have to focus on finding Bora, but it's just as important to remember who the people he's taken. We don't even know what Lucy looks like."

Natsu crossed his arms. "I still haven't found anything on her."

"What's her name again? Lucy...Heartilly? Heartenia?" Levy wondered aloud.

"Lucy Heartfilia," he said, watching her curiously.

She straightened up, tapping her finger on her chin as she began to pace back and forth. "Hmm, Heartfilia... Heartfilia... Why does that sound so familiar?" Suddenly, she froze in place as her jaw dropped. "No _way...!_ "

Levy darted from her spot and nearly ran into a bookshelf, but reoriented herself in time. She looked intently at across the collection before she grabbed a large, brown hardback off the shelf. Lugging it over to the table Natsu was sitting at, she set it down beside him and flipped it open with a thud. Natsu frowned at the thing. Nobody had any business reading a textbook so incredibly dull. There were just walls of text and no pictures. He liked books with pictures.

Her fingers ran across the pages rapidly, obviously searching for something. "Ah ha!" she shouted as her hand slammed against the paper. "Heartfilia! I knew it!"

Natsu leaned over to look at she was referring to. This time, there _was_ a picture on the page, but not one that was very exciting. It was just a picture of a train in black and white. He was scratching his head trying to figure out the relevance of it.

"It's just a train. I don't get it," he said in confusion.

"Not the train, silly, the _railway!_ " Levy explained with great enthusiasm. She was moving about the room animatedly and Natsu was no longer sure if she was talking to him or herself anymore. "You take the train all the time when you have to go on missions out of town! Who owns the majority of those railroads in Fiore? Heartfilia Konzern!"

She didn't wait for him to process what that even meant and continued on with her revelation, now looking horrified. "Oh my Gods! That means someone related to the owner of the Heartfilia Konzern is missing! Does he even know? Is someone already investigating?" Her expression went from horrified to enlightened. "Maybe they have leads on Bora! I have to go make some calls!"

Levy whizzed through the library door just as Yukino was making her way in, the younger girl blinking as the gust of air swept past. "Levy-sama can certainly move fast," she commented as she made her way over to where Natsu was sitting. She pulled out the chair beside him and settled herself next to him. "What are you looking at?"

"I was just looking for something about Lucy. Levy thinks she's part of the family that owns Heartfilia Konzern," he replied, still trying to figure out exactly what that was supposed to mean.

Yukino picked up the school documents he had been looking at earlier and inspected them herself. "And you thought you might find something about her in one of the student lists?"

He nodded. "I haven't found anything though."

She looked up thoughtfully, swaying in her seat. "Well, lots of people are homeschooled. Mira-neesan teaches me everything I would learn at school. If Lucy-san is part of a wealthy family, maybe she's the same way."

Natsu groaned. So _that_ was one of the implications of her being a Heartfilia. When it came to societal hierarchy, there was a lot he didn't understand. People were people to him. Yukino was clearly seeing something that he hadn't.

"You know, I haven't checked with Shabutarou yet today. Why don't I summon him?" she suggested. It was obvious that she was trying to cheer him up after seeing their lack of progress. He knew this, but didn't stop her as she stood and selected the correct key off of her key ring.

He never got tired of watching Yukino open the gate to the Spirit World. The magical power she emitted with her arm outstretched and hair flaring out behind her always made him feel like a proud older brother. He found it endlessly impressive that she could use her magic to connect two worlds together. In the back of his mind, he wondered if watching Lucy would feel the same way.

Shabutarou crashed to the floor as he entered their world. The pink-skinned spirit was definitely not the most coordinated creature, standing up and dusting himself before stepping forward and tripping over his own feet. To Natsu's amusement, Shabutarou's drill-shaped nose left a tiny dent in the hardwood floor as he straightened once again.

"Hello, Shabutarou. Were you able to send the message we gave you?" Yukino asked as she crouched down to the spirit's level.

"Buu!" he replied happily, his sleepy eyes appearing livelier somehow. He brandished the pen they'd wrapped in parchment nearly two weeks ago and offered it to his summoner.

Yukino accepted the object and pulled the piece of paper out from under the pen clip. Natsu felt his hope rising. He had no idea whether this letter had been delivered at all since he couldn't understand Shabutarou, but the little bug thing seemed to be quite optimistic. There also looked to be writing on the outside of the paper which he was sure hadn't been that way when they'd wrapped it.

"She replied!" Yukino said in a breathless voice, then thrust the letter at him. "You should read it. You found her letter first."

He nodded and accepted the letter silently before unraveling it to read her message. It wasn't long and it only took him a few seconds to get through, but by the end of it, the burning desire of wanting to help her only strengthened.

"We have to write her back," he said as he handed the paper to Yukino, leaving it to her while he went in search of a blank one. Words. Such a small thing was giving her hope. If his words made Lucy feel less like she was alone and if that was the case, he and Yukino would write her as many letters as she wanted.

Natsu had Yukino quickly pen another short message, not giving her any specifics, but trying to give her something to hold onto. What else could he say? They couldn't find her through messages—not when Lucy herself didn't even know where she was—and Gray was no closer in getting anything out of Bora's girlfriend than he was before. Two weeks had passed and they hadn't made any progress. Makarov had told him to let Gray handle things, but Gray was... Gray was...

What exactly was that bastard doing?

He abruptly took the pen that had been left on the table they were working at and wrapped his letter around it in the same manner as he before. "Here," he said, passing it to Yukino, "take it."

The girl looked a little puzzled at his sudden change in attitude, but there was no time for an explanation as he stormed out of the library. He held the door when he almost ran straight into Happy, who had been following Mira around while she'd been in the kitchen.

"Did something happen?" the cat asked. "Levy came into the kitchen to ask Mira what she knew about Heartfilia Konzern."

"Not really." Natsu shrugged and let go of the door, looking around distractedly until his eyes landed on Gray down on the ground floor. He was speaking to Erza about something, but both of them knew that they'd be in each other's face the moment they met eyes. "We gotta talk to Gray though."

He was down the stairs in an instant, barely even acknowledging Erza's presence. "You find him yet?"

However, it was Erza who answered. "Not quite, but soon."

Yeah, that was what he thought. His hands curled into fists, leveling his gaze at Erza. Right now she didn't seem so scary to him. "It's always 'not quite' or 'soon'! This is taking too long!" he shouted, turning his attention to the intended recipient. He pointed angrily at Gray. "You didn't want to do this mission in the first place! _I_ should've gone instead of getting stuck on research duty with Levy!"

"Seriously?" Gray scoffed. Natsu let his arm be pushed aside. "I'm _helping_ you, 'cause you couldn't pull off this mission if you tried. You could be a little more grateful, lizard face."

He was on the brink of losing his temper. The fire on his skin started to rise, the air feeling hot as it flowed through his nostrils and into his lungs. His teeth gnashed together and his fingers twitched in anticipation of action. Gray's claim was unconvincing. He'd been dragging his feet ever since Makarov brought him in on this mission and now he had the audacity to say that he was _helping_. After two weeks with no results and no change from "soon," Natsu was absolutely fed up with Gray's careless attitude. It wasn't money on the line here; actual human lives hung in the balance of whether or not they got results and Gray just continued to act like that was no big deal.

But them fighting amongst themselves would not help Lucy. Both he and Gray had proven often enough that a fist to the face wasn't going to change the other's mind or attitude, and though Gray might not be very concerned about the mission, he was as much a member of Fairy Tail as everyone else. They had each other's back despite how much they disagreed. Gray was doing his job; that much was probably true. Doing it well? That was up for debate.

Erza, on the other hand, had done nothing but hold him back. He turned to her with a hard expression. "You know what? I'm sick of waiting. I did what you and Master told me to and we aren't any closer to finding Lucy. I'm going to look for her myself! Let's go, Happy!"

The cat was agreeable as Natsu set off on a mission of his own. If Gray was already doing the best he could, the only thing Natsu could do was be better. He might not have access to Bora's girlfriend, but he was just as competent at finding information as any of the mages in his guild. He knew that Bora was on a ship and he knew exactly what kind of place would have information about ships at sea. But first, he needed to have a big meal.

* * *

Dusty ceilings and dirty tables surrounded him as he walked into the bar. Happy's face immediately crumpled in disgust at the smell of alcohol in the air and Natsu ignored the several shady characters he passed on his way to the counter. There was one in the corner closest to the door who seemed to be watching them with his one eye (the other being covered by a patch) and was frowning at their presence. With the way he was flexing his arm, Natsu felt that this guy might be the one he had to be really wary of. They'd been to three bars today already and there was always one who started the fight.

Happy, of course, pointed out that Natsu was usually the one starting fights back at the guild, but that was irrelevant.

Choosing a stool right in the middle of the counter, Natsu sat down and pretended to peruse the menu. It was important to take a moment to see what kind of people he was dealing with. After encounters at every one of the numerous bars they'd been to, it was obvious that Bora's name was some kind of trigger word. Natsu's only setting was straightforward, which was why he'd marched straight up to the all the bartenders and asked them if they knew a man named Bora. Most of them hadn't taken it well and each of those visits had ended up with him being tossed outside on his ass. He knew he could've gone barging back inside, but the response to his inquiry seemed to be a clue in itself.

This bar, a seedy shack at the edge of Magnolia's southern border, he decided he would be a little more careful with. Tussles with drunkards were not particularly challenging or taxing, but Erza probably hadn't been too far off when she'd made those comments about subtlety. It hadn't been a good idea to draw that much attention to himself because he was getting to the point where the bartenders were immediately directing him to the door. Clearly Bora didn't have a very good reputation around these parts, but it was possible he might've gotten more information if he just stopped charging in so carelessly. Making quiet conversation with the last bartender had led him to the place he was currently in after hearing that most of the sailors around these parts hung out in this particular tavern. This time, he was going to take a page out of Gray's book. That guy thought he was so much better at being undercover? Well, Natsu was about to prove him wrong.

Out of his periphery, he saw an overweight brunette practically passed out on the bar a few seats over. She was in a pair of jeans and didn't really _look_ like a sailor, but Natsu wasn't sure what kind of people Bora was employing. The eyepatch guy looked promising, and there was another lanky man in the seat behind him wearing a bandana.

The bartender approached him looking bored. "Know what ya want?"

"Asahi," Natsu replied immediately. This didn't really seem like the place to go to have sake and he'd already had enough of it today. Alcohol didn't affect him quite the same as other people because of his naturally raised body temperature, but he wasn't much of a fan. At least this beer was pretty light.

The man's already scary-looking eyes narrowed as he leaned over the counter. "...Aren't you a bit young to be in here?"

Yup, he was definitely underage, but frankly, it came as a bit of a surprise that someone would even call him out on that after all the bars he'd been in over the last few days. Nobody else seemed to care. Why would this guy?

"I'm older than I look," Natsu said, hoping the bartender would just drop it. He really didn't want to get kicked out of this particular establishment, but he certainly wasn't going to take fighting off the table if he really had to. "Do you really wanna get into this? It's been a tough week for me and my..." He gestured at a very self-satisfied Happy who had managed to get onto the stool beside him using the footrest. "...my friend."

The bartender regarded Happy with something between confusion and disgust before grabbing a glass to fill, muttering something under his breath about weirdos and felines. Natsu let his eyes wander over to the corkboard at the back of the bar.

A pint was smacked down on a coaster in front of him. "You lookin' for work?"

Natsu lifted the glass to his lips and took a generous gulp. "I heard this was the place to be if I'm looking to join a crew."

"Well, you came on a good day. A recruiter always comes around this time on Thursdays. He's good at finding people the right position," the bartender said as he scratched at his mustache. He nodded his head towards Happy. "Not sure how much luck you'll have if you're tryin'a bring a cat on board, though."

"I'm a lucky charm!" Happy insisted. "Do you have any catnip wine?"

The bartender looked mildly repulsed to have even been asked such a question, but Natsu quickly pounced on the direction of the conversation before he could answer. "What kind of jobs is he usually offering?"

"Ask him yourself. He just walked in," the man said as he walked off to see to another customer.

Natsu's head turned towards the door just as a short, plump man in a business suit came waltzing in. He paused a few steps in, his nostrils flaring and face crinkling in disgust.

"Micah, how do you expect to maintain a respectable establishment when you allow your guests to urinate near the front door?" he asked rather pompously.

The bartender, apparently named Micah, was tidying the shelves behind the bar but still managed to flip off his patron without so much as a look. "There's a kid looking for work. Pink hair. He's got a cat."

Natsu mentally paused, eyes upturned. Was his hair really pink...?

The plump man seated himself on the stool on Natsu's other side. He looked the Natsu up and down as if he were an agent assessing a model. "Ah, young blood. With good, strong arms. You'll have your pick of the flock."

"I'm looking for something specific," Natsu replied as all thoughts of his hair colour went flying out the window. He was suddenly burning with impatience but managed to remember the reactions he'd gotten the last time he'd immediately led with "Bora." Still, he wasn't quite sure what Bora actually told people he did and there was really no way to end up drawing the right information if he didn't get more of it. "I want to work with a good crew, but I don't really know what's out here.'

It was clear how experienced the recruiter was at his job. He immediately launched into a description of some of the biggest fishing companies around-probably because these companies paid him the most for recruiting-but that was far from what Natsu wanted. When that failed to get a reaction, he presented import/export companies as an option. That seemed closer to what Bora might call his nefarious business, but all the companies discussed were still way too conspicuous. Only when Natsu mentioned wanting to work with a smaller crew did things start to get more interesting.

"I see. You're looking for a position of less...shall we say _legitimate_ means," the recruiter said as inspected the glass of whiskey the bartender had brought him earlier.

"Why d'you think that?" Natsu asked.

He took a sip of his drink, unfazed. "I've presented you with multiple wonderful opportunities already, yet you've rebuffed them as though they're trivial. That is the simple conclusion."

Natsu's hand closed tightly around his glass, a small crack appearing beneath his fingertips. "And what kind of _opportunities_ would you have for me there?"

The corner of the man's lip curled up into a haughty smirk. "My apologies, sir, but I am an honest businessman, though perhaps I could be _persuaded_ to look for what you're asking. It would open up a door of excellent opportunities, a possibility where perhaps one would hold the most precious gems in the world, or see beautiful young women on a daily basis, or—"

No more words came out of the man's mouth because Natsu had thrown him against the counter and was now pressing his forearm tightly against the recruiter's throat. A glass shattered, probably the one he'd been drinking from, as his victim's hand slid across the table. Shouts broke out around them, but they were easy to ignore when Natsu knew what he wanted was within his grasp.

" _You know Bora,_ " he said, his voice low and menacing. "Where _is_ he?"

The plump man let out a sort of strangled noise. He wheezed as Natsu lightened the pressure to let him answer.

"I—"

Happy barreled into Natsu just before a bottle came crashing down where his head had been, courtesy of the bartender. "I knew I shouldn't have let some goddamn kid into my bar!" he thundered as he approached from behind the counter.

Cursing inwardly, Natsu glanced at his surroundings quickly. The woman had already made her escape and the man wearing the bandana was on his feet, looking ready to help Micah if he needed it. It was the man with the eyepatch's reaction that struck him as peculiar, because he was still in his seat and was observing Natsu with mild interest. However, Natsu didn't have time to spare on that train of thought because he saw the recruiter stumbling discreetly towards the door. He was not about to lose his only lead.

Deciding he didn't have time for this, Natsu sent Happy a signal in the form of a tiny head nudge and they both flew into action. He lunged forward to grab Micah by the wrist and tossed him against the door, right at the feet of the wide-eyed recruiter. The eyepatch guy was slipping toward the entrance, but Natsu's attention was drawn to the shouts of a different customer, whose bandana had been pulled over his eyes and was actively been held there by a flying cat. Though not much of a fighter, Happy's skills were always useful in some way or another.

Wanting to get back to his questioning, Natsu shoved his hand against the man's face and sent him tumbling into various pieces of furniture. Once Natsu was sure the guy wasn't getting back up, he moved back to his original prey, grabbing the recruiter by the lapels and pushing him up against the wall.

" _Where's Bora?_ " he asked again, glaring into terrified eyes.

The recruiter's hands wrapped around Natsu's forearms as his feet wiggled above the ground helplessly. "T-there's no way of knowing!" The voice that came from his mouth was high and squeaky, completely void of the confidence he'd displayed earlier.

That he had injected fear into a lowlife was good; the answer itself, however, was unacceptable. " _Not good enough._ "

The recruiter whimpered. "I don't know where he is! I swear! B-but I know he'll be d-docking around here next week! Ce-cedar Town, I think...!"

It was all he needed. Natsu released the man from his grasp, leaving him on the floor next to the unconscious bartender. Finally, he had his lead and he didn't even need to go undercover for more than half an hour. He'd gotten results in just a few days while Gray was still working on his own fruitless project. Maybe now Erza and Master would realize that he didn't need to be babysat or put off the frontlines. They would recognize that he was getting Lucy the help she needed.

"Let's get out of here, Happy," he said, stepping over Micah's figure to make his way out the door. His companion agreed and followed him out as Natsu marched forward with fire in his veins.

Soon, he would be face to face with Bora. Soon, he would be face to face with Lucy.


End file.
